Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
  • Publication
    Characterization of SnOâ‚‚/TiOâ‚‚ with the addition of Polyethylene Glycol via sol-gel method for self-cleaning application
    ( 2022) ;
    A. Azliza
    ;
    ;
    V. Chobpattana
    ;
    ; ;
    Mohd Mustafa Albakri Abdullah
    ;
    L. Kaczmarek
    ;
    M. Nabiałek
    ;
    B. Jeż
    TiO₂ is one of the most widely used metal oxide semiconductors in the field of photocatalysis for the self-cleaning purpose to withdraw pollutants. Polyethylene glycol (PEG) is recommended as a stabilizer and booster during preparation of water-soluble TiO₂. Preparation of SnO₂/TiO₂ thin film deposition on the surface of ceramic tile was carried out by the sol-gel spin coating method by adding different amount of PEG (0g, 0.2g, 0.4g, 0.6g, 0.8g) during the preparation of the sol precursor. The effects of PEG content and the annealing temperature on the phase composition, crystallite size and the hydrophilic properties of SnO₂/TiO₂ films were studied. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) spectra revealed different phases existed when the films were annealed at different annealing temperatures of 350°C, 550°C and 750°C with 0.4 g of PEG addition. The crystallite sizes of the films were measured using Scherrer equation. It shows crystallite size was dependent on crystal structure existed in the films. The films with mixed phases of brookite and rutile shows the smallest crystallite size. In order to measure the hydrophilicity properties of films, the water contact angles for each film with different content of PEG were measured. It can be observed that the water contact angle decreased with the increasing of the content of PEG. It shows the superhydrophilicity properties for the films with the 0.8 g of PEG annealed at 750°C. This demonstrates that the annealed temperature and the addition of PEG affect the phase composition and the hydrophilicity properties of the films
  • Publication
    Microstructure evolution of Ag/TiOâ‚‚ thin film
    ( 2021) ; ; ;
    Mohd Izrul Izwan Ramli
    ;
    ; ;
    Kazuhiro Nogita
    ;
    Hideyuki Yasuda
    ;
    Marcin Nabiałek
    ;
    Jerzy J. Wysłocki
    Ag/TiO₂ thin films were prepared using the sol-gel spin coating method. The microstructural growth behaviors of the prepared Ag/TiO₂ thin films were elucidated using real-time synchrotron radiation imaging, its structure was determined using grazing incidence X-ray diffraction (GIXRD), its morphology was imaged using the field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), and its surface topography was examined using the atomic force microscope (AFM) in contact mode. The cubical shape was detected and identified as Ag, while the anatase, TiO₂ thin film resembled a porous ring-like structure. It was found that each ring that coalesced and formed channels occurred at a low annealing temperature of 280 °C. The energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) result revealed a small amount of Ag presence in the Ag/TiO₂ thin films. From the in-situ synchrotron radiation imaging, it was observed that as the annealing time increased, the growth of Ag/TiO₂ also increased in terms of area and the number of junctions. The growth rate of Ag/TiO₂ at 600 s was 47.26 µm2/s, and after 1200 s it decreased to 11.50 µm2/s and 11.55 µm2/s at 1800 s. Prolonged annealing will further decrease the growth rate to 5.94 µm2/s, 4.12 µm2/s and 4.86 µm2/s at 2400 s, 3000 s and 3600 s, respectively.