Photocatalytic activity of nanostructured TiO2 thin films prepared by dc magnetron sputtering method

Transparent and colourless nanostructured titanium dioxide thin films have been fabricated on microscope glass slides by the de magnetron reactive spu ttering method using Ar and O-2 as working gases. X-ray diffraction (XRD), Xray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and UV-Vis-NIR spectrophotometer tech nologies were used to characterize the films. The stoichiometric TiO2 thin films with anatase phase were obtained by optimizing the sputtering paramet ers such as sputtering gas Ar:O-2 ratio, sputtering gas pressure and sputte ring power. The photocatalytic activity of the samples was tested on the de gradation of Rhodamine B(Rh.B) dye. The relatively better degradation effic iency compared with Rh.B mineralization was obtained in the sample annealed at 500 degreesC. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.