TiO₂/Eu³⁺ Thin Films with High Photoluminescence Emission Prepared by Electrophoretic Deposition from Nanoparticulate Sols

Abstract

The light emission properties of anatase TiO 2 /Eu 3+ thin films prepared by electrophoretic deposition and of the corresponding precursor nanoparticulate sols and xerogels with different Eu 3+ contents are reported. Transparent anatase TiO 2 thin films were successfully obtained by electrophoretic deposition after dilution of the original sols with ethanol in order to inhibit the water hydrolysis and facilitate the drying process. The topography of the films shows a high homogeneous distribution in terms of grain size and roughness of the [a]

Structure-property relationships for Eu doped TiO2 thin films grown by a laser assisted technique from colloidal sols

“…2). The refractive index in the 550-1700 nm spectral range is similar or still slightly below the values reported in the literature for crystalline TiO 2 thin lms, [59][60][61][62] or bulk anatase TiO 2 . 63 The observed increase of the diffuse reectance (Fig.…”

Electrophoretic deposition of nanoscale TiO2: technology and applications

“…As an alternative to improve the photoluminescent properties of titania for possible application as wave guides, Borlaf et al [71,75,76] deposited Er 3+ -doped titania nanoparticles on stainless steel substrates from a sol containing a molar ratio Er 3+ /TiO 2 of 1-3%. EPD was carried out under constant current conditions using current density between 0.25 and 1 mA/cm 2 and deposition times between 2 and 15 min.…”

Insights into the TiO2-Based Photocatalytic Systems and Their Mechanisms

“…In the case of rare earth elements doping, the electronic configurations such as 4f, 5d, and 6s are found to be favorable to tune the band edge positions, density of states, and width of VB and CB via altering the crystal, electronic, and optical structures in TiO 2 [98][99][100]. In addition, the rare earth elements tend to form complexes through their f -orbital and form various Lewis-based organic compounds, thereby improving the photocatalytic activities of TiO 2 [101,102]. For instance, lanthanum (La) leads to the NIR absorption in TiO 2 [103], cerium (Ce) owing to its tunable electronic configuration of 4f states, such as 4f 0 5d 0 (Ce 4+ ) and 4f 5 d 0 (Ce 3+ ), where it leads to the formation of mid-band gap in TiO 2 that facilitates the absorption of in the visible region 400-500 nm [104,105].…”