Please cite this article as: Mohd. Danish, S. Ambreen, A. Chauhan, A. Pandey, Optimization and comparative evaluation of optical and photocatalytic properties of TiO 2 thin films prepared via sol-gel method, Journal of Saudi Chemical Society (2015), doi: http://dx. Abstract:TiO 2 thin films were fabricated with optimization of the synthesis parameters for efficient photocatalysis. The films were sculptured from gels obtained from Ti(O i Pr) 4 and Ti(OBu s ) 4 via spin coating at different rotation speed ranging from 1000 rpm to 3000 rpm. Thicknesses of the films were in the range of ≈ 112 nm to ≈ 160 nm. The X-ray diffractograms showed a phase transformation from anatase to rutile along with increase in average crystallite size from 11 nm to 18 nm with decrease in thickness of the films.Refractive index (n) values of the films were in the range of 2.50 to 3.45 while extinction coefficient (k) values ranged from 0.090 to 0.860. These films were transparent with high transmittance (T ≤ 95%) in the visible region. The optical band gaps for films were calculated to be in the range of 3.00 eV to 3.95 eV. Photocatalytic degradations of methylene blue by the fabricated TiO 2 thin films has also been investigated.Introduction:

SummaryTa8(μ3-O)2(μ-O)8(μ-OEt)6(OEt)14 (1) was obtained by the controlled hydrolysis of tantalum ethoxide Ta(OEt)5 in the presence of ammonia. Compound 1 is considered as the intermediate building block in the sol–gel polymerization of Ta(OEt)5. Further hydrolysis of compound 1 yielded nanoparticles of Ta2O5, which were characterized by various techniques such as TGA-DTA-DSC, UV–vis DRS, XRD, SEM, TEM, particle size analyzer (DLS) and the Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) method. The band gap of the particles was calculated by using the Tauc plot. The photocatalytic activity of Ta2O5 nanoparticles was tested by the degradation of the organic dye rhodamine B.

Ta2O5 nanoparticles have been synthesized from alkoxy carboxylates of tantalum via the sol–gel route. Tantalum alkoxides were reacted with chlorocarboxylic acids in order to lower the susceptibility hydrolysis. When these modified alkoxy carboxylates were used in the sol–gel synthesis, they yielded Ta2O5 nanoparticles of better properties than those of the alkoxide-derived Ta2O5 nanoparticles. These nanoparticles efficiently removed rhodamine B under UV light irradiation.

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