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An All Low‐Temperature Fabrication of Macroporous, Electrochemically Addressable Anatase Thin Films
Author(s) -
Schröder Michael,
Sallard Sébastien,
Böhm Matthias,
Einert Marcus,
Suchomski Christian,
Smarsly Bernd M.,
Mutisya Stephen,
Bertino Massimo F.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
small
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.785
H-Index - 236
eISSN - 1613-6829
pISSN - 1613-6810
DOI - 10.1002/smll.201300970
Subject(s) - anatase , materials science , tin oxide , chemical engineering , calcination , scanning electron microscope , cyclic voltammetry , raman spectroscopy , indium tin oxide , thin film , nanoparticle , polystyrene , nanotechnology , photocatalysis , oxide , polymer , electrode , electrochemistry , composite material , organic chemistry , chemistry , optics , physics , engineering , metallurgy , catalysis
Macroporous TiO 2 (anatase) thin films are fabricated by an all low‐temperature process in which substrates are dip‐coated in suspensions of mixed anatase nanoparticles and polystyrene beads, and the templating agents are removed by ultraviolet (UV) irradiation at a temperature below 50 °C. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Raman spectroscopy show that the templating polymer beads are removed by UV irradiation combined with the photocatalytic activity of TiO 2 . X‐Ray diffraction reveals that nanoparticle growth is negligible in UV irradiated films, while nanoparticle size increases by almost 10 times in calcined films that are prepared for comparison. The macroporous films are prepared on FTO‐(fluorine‐doped tin oxide) coated glass and ITO (indium tin oxide) coated flexible plastics and thereby used as working electrodes. In both cases, the films are electrochemically addressable, and cyclic voltammetry is consistent with the response of bulk TiO 2 for calcined films and of nanoscale‐TiO 2 for UV‐irradiated films.