Publikationsrepositorium - Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf

Semiconducting metal oxides often exhibit high photocatalytic efficiency (PE) and, among them, the anatase-TiO2 (A-TiO2) is the most promising material for the water splitting under sun light illumination. The PE of TiO2-based materials mainly depends on the surface state density, Fermi level position, band gap and crystalline structure (anatase, rutile, brookite). Here, we present the optical, electrical and structural properties of A-TiO2 thin films made by RT magnetron sputtering followed by ms-range flash lamp annealing (FLA) in N2 ambient. X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray absorption near-edge structure, and Raman spectroscopies reveal the transformation from amorphous to single-phase A-TiO2 during FLA for 20 ms. The FLA energy density was in the range of 65 to 110 Jcm-2, corresponding to peak temperatures in the range of 500oC to 1100 oC, respectively. XRD and scanning electron microscopy shows that with increasing FLA energy the average crystal size of the A-TiO2 increases from a few nm?s up to ~200 nm after annealing at energy density of 110 Jcm-2. On the other hand, the optical band-gap, as determined by spectroscopic ellipsometry, remains at ~3.4 eV. The bleaching of methylene blue under irradiation with a high-intensity light-emitting-diode (4.5 W/cm2) at 365 nm has been used to test the photoactivity of the samples after FLA. The PE of the samples is enhanced with increasing the annealing temperature, which we assign to the engineering of surface states and carrier lifetime upon FLA in N2 ambient.