Thin Solid Films, Vol.519, No.22, 7845-7849, 2011
Silicon releasing sol-gel TiO2-SiO(2)30/70 films
TiO2-SiO(2)30/70 mol% sal-gel films were prepared on glass slides by a dip-coating method. The sols were prepared by a two-step hydrolysis process, where either the Si- or Ti-sol was prehydrolyzed before mixing the sols together. The acidity of the prehydrolyzed sol was varied. The surface structure and composition of formed films were characterized by contact angle meter, atomic force microscope and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The silicon dissolution was performed in tris(hydroxymethyl)aminomethane buffer. The films were able to release silicon and the surface chemistry of films was dependent on the preparation method. The prehydrolysis of Si-sot and aging of mixed sol increased surface silica concentration of the formed films. The surface morphology was dependent on the preparation method so that through Si-sot prehydrolysis it was possible to make rougher nanosurfaces with needle-like particles. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.