Low Temperature Deposition of TiO₂ Thin Films through Atmospheric Pressure Plasma Jet Processing

• Main Authors: Suresh Gosavi, Rena Tabei, Nitish Roy, Sanjay S. Latthe, Y. M. Hunge, Norihiro Suzuki, Takeshi Kondo, Makoto Yuasa, Katsuya Teshima, Akira Fujishima, Chiaki Terashima
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2021-01-01
• Series: Catalysts
• Subjects: atmospheric pressure plasma jet technique; TiO₂ thin films; photocatalytic; wettability
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4344/11/1/91

Titanium dioxide (TiO₂) has been widely used as a catalyst material in different applications such as photocatalysis, solar cells, supercapacitor, and hydrogen production, due to its better chemical stability, high redox potential, wide band gap, and eco-friendly nature. In this work TiO₂ thin films have been deposited onto both glass and silicon substrates by the atmospheric pressure plasma jet (APPJ) technique. The structure and morphological properties of TiO₂ thin films are studied using different characterization techniques like X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Raman spectroscopy, and field emission scanning electron microscopy. XRD study reveals the bronze-phase of TiO₂. The XPS study shows the presence of Ti, O, C, and N elements. The FE-SEM study shows the substrate surface is well covered with a nearly round shaped grain of different size. The optical study shows that all the deposited TiO₂ thin films exhibit strong absorption in the ultraviolet region. The oleic acid photocatalytic decomposition study demonstrates that the water contact angle decreased from 80.22 to 27.20° under ultraviolet illumination using a TiO₂ photocatalyst.