Laser induced photocatalytic activity enhancement of TiO_2 thin films

Abstract

In this paper, the photocatalytic activity enhancement of TiO thin films was realized by laser irradiation. The H yield of the as-irradiated film is 79 μmol/(h*m), which is 33% more than that of the as-deposited TiO film. Spectrophotometer, X-ray diffraction and Raman system were employed to characterize the samples. The results showed that both the scanning rate and line spacing of the laser modification have effects on photocatalytic activity. It suggests that a phase junction is formed between the amorphous and rutile phases. The increment of H generation could be attributed to the alignment of Fermi levels in the phase junction.