Towards visible-spectral-range photocatalytic thin films

5^th International Conference and Exhibition on Lasers, Optics & Photonics

November 28-30, 2016 Atlanta, USA

Jones Alami

INI Coatings Ltd., Germany

Posters & Accepted Abstracts: J Laser Opt Photonics

Abstract :

Global demand for clean air and water is escalating and is a major challenge faced by contemporary society. Photocatalysis is a phenomenon that has great potential to address this challenge since it allows for conversion of photon energy into chemical energy. The most widely used photocatalytic material is titanium dioxide (TiO2); however, it is limited to functioning exclusively in the ultra-violet range of the electromagnetic spectrum. In order to utilize solar radiation and increase the efficiency of photocatalytic devices, materials that exhibit photocatalytic activity in the visible spectra range are a prerequisite. High power impulse magnetron sputtering (HIPIMS) is a thin film deposition technique that provides a large flux of energetic film forming species and allows for a stable reactive deposition process. The dynamics of HIPIMS have been shown to facilitate efficient control of composition and structure in reactively grown metal oxide and oxynitride films. The present work aims at identifying the HIPIMS process conditions under which Ti-O-N films with photocatalytic activity in the visible spectral range are synthesized. The atomic composition and the crystal structure (i.e. attributes) of the Ti-O-N films employing reactive HIPIMS (in an Ar-O2-N2 atmosphere) are tuned for a wide range of deposition conditions with respect to the gas composition and the HIPIMS parameter space (e.g. pulsing frequency and pulse duration) and the relations between the above mentioned attributes and the photocatalytic behavior of the films are elucidated.

Biography :

Email: jones.alami@inicoatings.de