Effect of polymeric precursors on the properties of TiO<inf>2</inf> films prepared by sol-gel method

Abstract

© 2019 Elsevier B.V. The influence of polymeric precursors (PVP, PEG and Tween 60) on the properties of TiO2 films was investigated and discussed. The anatase TiO2 was successfully synthesized via sol-gel method. Upon calcination at 450 °C for 1 h, PVP, PEG and Tween 60 were removed and TiO2 spherical particles with different particle sizes were synthesized. The different polymeric precursors did not have the influence on the particle shape. They only play the role in the growth process of TiO2 particles. Upon increasing the content of polymeric precursor, the crystallite was reduced in size. Additionally, the microstrain of the samples determined using the Williamson-Hall (W-H) and Halder-Wagner (H-W) methods showed that the compressive microstrains can play the role in the crystallite size and band gap of the samples. The band gaps of anatase TiO2 were 2.81–2.82 eV, 2.74–2.78 eV and 2.74–2.88 eV for the samples prepared in the solutions containing PEG, PVP and Tween 60, respectively.