Photocatalytic activity of tin-doped TiO2 film deposited via aerosol assisted chemical vapor deposition

Tin-doped TiO2 films are deposited via aerosol assisted chemical vapor deposition using a precursor mixture composing of titanium tetraisopropoxide and tetrabutyl tin. The amount of tin doping in the deposited films is controlled by the volume % concentration ratio of tetrabutyl tin over titanium tetraisopropoxide in the mixed precursor solution. X-ray diffraction analysis results reveal that the as-deposited films are composed of pure anatase TiO2 phase. Red-shift in the absorbance spectra is observed attributed to the introduction of Sn4+ band states below the conduction band of TiO2. The effect of tin doping on the photocatalytic property of TiO2 films is studied through the degradation of stearic acid under UV light illumination. It is found that there is a 10% enhancement on the degradation rate of stearic acid for the film with 3.8% tin doping in comparison with pure TiO2 film. This improvement of photocatalytic performance with tin incorporation could be ascribed to the reduction of electron-hole recombination rate through charge separation and an increased amount of OH radicals which are crucial for the degradation of stearic acid. Further increase in tin doping results in the formation of recombination site and large anatase grains, which leads to a decrease in the degradation rate. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.