Photocatalytic performance of TiO2 films produced with combination of oxygen-plasma and rapid thermal annealing

In this work, a combination of oxygen plasma and rapid thermal annealing was suggested in order to oxidize the surface of titanium into TiO2. A plasma was formed by employing pure oxygen at 150W, 300W, and 400W under a pressure of 7.5 to 8.5 Pa for 5 to 10 min. The TiO2 was then subjected to rapid thermal annealing (RTA) at a temperature of 400 to 500 degrees C for 1 min. From the attained results, an RF power of 300W for 5 min was observed to be sufficient to produce an optimal photocatalytic TiO2 film. Optimal conditions were confirmed by additional experiments involving humic acid (HA) degradation of the TiO2 films. When compared to a traditional TiO2 film, a TiO2 film prepared with an oxygen-plasma treatment and RTA system exhibited improved photocatalytic capability for HA photodegradation in an aqueous solution. Therefore, this process proposed in this work can be an excellent alternative to the traditional method for fabricating photocatalytic TiO2 films. Crown Copyright (C) 2011 Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.