TiO₂thin films prepared by sol – gel method

Abstract

There is a growing awareness that titania (TiO2) and TiO2-based oxide systems are the most promising candidates for the development of photoelectrodes for photoelectrochemical cell (PEC) for solar-hydrogen production [1]. The PEC is equipped with a single photoelectrode (photoanode) and cathode, both of which are immersed in an aqueous electrolyte. In this work we present a sol-gel method to prepare TiO2 thin films on ITO using tetraisopropoxides of titanium, acetylacetone, 1-butanol and Tween 80 as surfactant. The films were deposited on ITO coated glass slides by spray pyrolysis. UV-VIS spectra and fluorescence measurements were made for the solutions and films. X-ray diffraction was used for structural investigations and the morphology of the film was studied by Scanning Electron Microscopy.