Effect of Crystal Structure and Grain Size on Photo-Catalytic Activities of Remote-Plasma Atomic Layer Deposited Titanium Oxide Thin Film

The photo-catalytic activities of TiO2 thin films grown by remote plasma atomic layer deposition (RPALD) were investigated as a function of grain size and crystal structure. As the deposition temperature increased, it was shown that grain size of the anatase phase in the as-deposited TiO2 thin films progressively decreased. When the TiO2 films grown by RPALD were annealed at 900 degrees C, the anatase TiO2 phase with relatively small grains provided large number of nucleation sites for formation of more stable rutile phase. On the other hand, the phase transition to rutile was retarded due to the reduction in grain boundaries in the case of the anatase TiO2 films with large grains. Thus, the anatase TiO2 phase with large grains has excellent thermal stability against the phase transition to rutile. Because the large grain boundary volume is a primary cause of degradation of photo-catalytic activity, the photo-catalytic activity of the TiO2 thin film was maximized when the anatase phase with large grains was formed in the TiO2 thin film. Therefore, RPALD can be effectively utilized to control the grain size of the as-deposited anatase TiO2 thin film with high thermal stability for potential application of photo-catalysts. (C) 2012 The Electrochemical Society.This work was supported by a National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grant funded by the Korean government (MEST) (Grant No. 2011-0015436)