Analytical studies of electrohydrodynamically TiO2 nanostructure

Abstract

In this paper, we report an alternate technique for the deposition of nanostructured TiO₂ thin films using the electrohydrodynamic atomization (EHDA) technique us- ing polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) as a stabilizer. The required parameters for achieving uniform TiO₂ films using EHDA are also discussed in detail. X-ray diffraction results con- firm that the TiO₂ films were oriented in the anatase phase. Scanning electron microscope studies revealed the uniform deposition of the TiO₂. The purity of the films is charac- terized by using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spec- troscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), con- firming the presence of Ti–O bonding in the films without any organic residue. The optical properties of the TiO₂ films were measured by UV-visible spectroscopy, which shows that the transparency of the films is nearly 85% in the visi- ble region. The current–voltage (I –V ) curve of the TiO₂ thin films shows a nearly linear behavior with 45 mQ cm of elec- trical resistivity. These results suggest that TiO₂ thin films deposited via the EHDA method possess promising applications in optoelectronic devices.