Evolution of surface properties of titanium oxide thin films

Exploiting Laser‐Induced Oxidation Phase Diagrams for Multifunctional Titania Thin Films

“…Previous work investigating titania thin film synthesis from reactive sputtering techniques has revealed that sputtering titanium under low concentrations of oxygen yields rutile films, while increased oxygen content during the sputtering process yields anatase. [23,48] Similar results have been found during flame synthesis of TiO 2 , in which case an oxygen-rich environment yields anatase while an oxygen-lean environment yields rutile. [49,50] This suggests that, at exposure times slightly shorter than those needed to form anatase in the phase diagram, oxygen availability is once again limited, leading to the formation of rutile.…”

“…Other techniques, such as spray pyrolysis or reactive sputtering, show promise in scalable crystalline film synthesis, but typically require uniform heating of the substrate. [22,23] Consequently, these processes forgo temporal and spatial control of the heating profile, limiting the reaction timescales that can be studied and restricting the ability to explore a wide range of tuning conditions in a rapid manner. Consequently, development of a high-throughput and scalable synthesis technique is crucial for effectively exploring and optimizing the multidimensional parameter space inherent in thin-film materials engineering.…”

Near-infrared to visible and ultraviolet upconversion in TiO2 thin films modified with Er and Yb

“…To compare the shape of the spectrum curves, it is necessary to perform a normalization procedure. The normalization procedure for the Ti L 2,3 spectra was described in detail in our recent work, 30 and here an analogous approach was applied for Ti L 2,3 , O K, Er M 4,5 and Yb M 5 spectra. The normalized Er M 4,5 XAS spectra ( Fig.…”

“…For detailed analysis of Ti L 2,3 lines, see ref. 30 . The maxima of the O K lines at 531, 533, 539 and 544 eV can be assigned to 1s → t 2g , 1s → e g , and 1s → a 1g ,t 1u transitions (see also ref.…”

“…A more detailed description of the experimental procedure at the PIRX beamline is described in ref. 30 . Measurements were carried out with 1 s per point acquisition time and energy steps of 0.05 eV for the pre-edge and white line range, and 0.1 eV over the range free from any sharp absorption peaks.…”