Preparation and characterization of doped titanium dioxide printed layers

Thin layers of doped titanium dioxide on Pyrex glass were prepared by the material printing technique. Titanium dioxide was synthesized by the sol-gel method employing titanium(IV)isopropoxide as the precursor. A dedicated experimental inkjet printer Fujifilm Dimatix 2831 was used for the coating process. The influence of various solvents onto sol jettability was investigated. The mixture of absolute ethanol and 2-butanol was finally adopted because of its optimum viscosity and rate of evaporation. A series of experiments with different printing conditions was carried out, the optimum printing settings were determined. Consequently, iron and silver dopants were incorporated into the sol. The influence of doping on the photocatalytic activity of TiO2 as well as the shift of absorption edge towards high wavelengths was investigated. The quality of all layers was studied by optical microscopy. The surface topology was evaluated by atomic force microscopy. The study of surface structure was performed using scanning electron microscopy. Crystallite phases of prepared TiO2 were investigated by X-ray diffraction analysis. Band gap energy was determined by UV-vis reflection spectroscopy. The photocatalytic activity of printed thin films was examined as a degradation rate of stearic acid and 2,6-dichloroindophenol under UV radiation. (c) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.