Nanocrystalline TiO₂ Thin Films Fabricated Via a Polyelectrolyte Multilayer‐Assisted Sol–Gel Reaction

Abstract

Nanostructured anatase titanium dioxide (TiO2) thin films were fabricated with an in situ, sol–gel process in a self‐assembled, polyelectrolyte multilayer (PEM) template. Because the PEM template is formed by the sequential adsorption of appositively charged, weak polyelectrolytes, polyacrylic acid, and polyallylamine, it contains nonionized carboxylic groups that are able to react with the inorganic precursor, resulting in the formation of an inorganic–organic hybrid network. After annealing, nanocrystalline TiO2 films with a controlled surface morphology, crystallite size, and a thickness on the nanometer scale were obtained. The average TiO2 crystallite size was approximately 10 nm. The surface morphology and the roughness of the nanocrystalline films were evaluated by field‐emission scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy. UV‐vis spectroscopy was used to establish the optical parameters of the nanocrystalline TiO2 films. The as‐fabricated, nanostructured TiO2 films showed high absorption in the UV region and the controlled transmission of visible light.

Investigation of a TiO 2 photocatalyst immobilized with poly(vinyl alcohol)

“…270 nm). The previous spectra are in accordance with earlier published ones regarding TiO2 suspension [22], nanocrystaline film [23], and PVA-TiO2 thin layer [9]. …”

Cu and CuO/Titanate Nanobelt Based Network Assemblies for Enhanced Visible Light Photocatalysis

“…The spectrum of O 1s (Figure 6b) exhibits a peak at 529 eV with a shoulder at 531 eV, which is attributed to the adsorbed oxygen and TiNB surface hydroxyl groups. 32 No evident differences in the position of the two Ti 2p and O 1s peaks of the 3D network structures formed by the assembly of the TiNBs/PEM and TiNB/PEM-Cu precursors were observed, which indicates that during the annealing in air the Cu deposits onto the surface of the TiNBs rather than diffuses into the titanate lattice. The Cu 2p corelevel signal in the XPS spectrum confirms the presence of cuprous species in the 3D structures formed by air annealing the Cu-loaded PEM/TiNB multilayer assemblies (Figure 6c).…”

Photocatalytic visible-light-driven removal of the herbicide imazapyer using nanocomposites based on mesoporous TiO2 modified with Gd2O3

“…Indeed, the XPS O1s core level band, belonging to the lattice O-Gd bond of the cubic Gd 2 O 3 , was observed at close position of 530.2 eV. Finally, the peak at 531.5 eV are correlated to the hydroxyl species that are adsorbed on the surface of the analyzed nanocomposite (Logar et al 2010).…”