Highly photocatalytically active iron(III) titanium oxide thin films via aerosol-assisted CVD

Abstract

This paper presents, for the first time, the synthesis, via aerosol-assisted (AA)CVD followed by annealing at 620°C for 5 h, of pure Fe2TiO5 thin films on glass. The thin film is deposited from a one pot solution containing titanium isopropoxide and tris(acetylacetonato)iron in an ethyl acetate solvent. The film is characterized using a range of techniques including powder X-ray diffraction(XRD), wavelength dispersive X-ray (WDX) spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy(XPS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and UV-vis spectroscopy. The photocatalytic activity of the film under UVA and visible light irradiation is also tested. The results show that Fe2TiO5 is able to degrade resazurin redox dye under UVA illumination at a rate much higher than Pilkington NSG Activ™, with a formal quantum ef ficiency (FQE) an order of magnitude superior.