Fabrication of nano-structured Titania - Thin-Films on Carbon-coated Nickel sheets

This research for Eco-materials focuses on the improvement of photo response of titania thin films. The goal of this research is to find a suitable substrate for decreasing the band-gap of titania, to improve the microstructure and to seek for new processing techniques in nano-meter scale. The sol-gel technique using titanium-tetra-iso-propoxide (TTIP), di-ethanol-amine (DEA) and ethanol was applied by using the dip-coating method. The substrate is a nickel-sheet covered with amorphous carbon-layers or carbon-nano-tubes (CNT), both produced with plasma- enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) by varying the temperature and the gas molecule velocity. The microstructure of these titania thin films show nanometer-structured pores, which are supposed to decrease the band gap according to the literature. Possible applications for photo catalytic devices will be discussed.