Effect of the structure on biological and photocatalytic activity of transparent titania thin-film coatings

• Published in: Materials science--Poland 2016-12, Vol.34 (4), p.856-862
• Main Authors: Wojcieszak, Damian, Mazur, Michał, Kaczmarek, Danuta, Poniedziałek, Agata, Domanowski, Piotr, Szponar, Bogumiła, Czajkowska, Aleksandra, Gamian, Andrzej
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: antibacterial properties; nanocrystalline structure; photocatalytic activity; thin film; TiO
• ISSN: 2083-134X; 2083-134X
• DOI: 10.1515/msp-2016-0100

In this work, the effect of titanium dioxide (TiO ) thin film microstructure on photocatalytic and biological activity was described. The films were prepared by low-pressure and high-energy magnetron sputtering processes. The structural investigations performed by X-ray diffraction revealed that the films from both the processes were nanocrystalline. It was found that TiO prepared by low-pressure process had the anatase structure with crystallites in size of 20 nm, while the film deposited in high-energy process had the rutile form with crystallites in size of 5 nm. The analysis of surface topography with the aid of optical profiler showed that all prepared films were homogenous and their roughness was lower than 1 nm. The wettability studies revealed hydrophilic nature of both films. The values of water contact angle obtained for anatase and rutile films were equal to 40° and 49°, respectively. Both types of the thin films were photocatalitycally active, but rutile exhibited higher decomposition rate as compared to anatase. During the photocatalytic reaction in the presence of TiO -rutile film after 12 hours of UV-Vis irradiation 30 % of phenol was decomposed, whereas in case of TiO -anatase it was only 10 %. Moreover, the influence of as-deposited coatings on the growth of selected microbes ( ) was examined. It was found that the structural properties of TiO had an effect on biological activity of these films.