Materials Research Bulletin, Vol.97, 497-505, 2018
Effect of annealing temperature on the photocatalytic activity of Ag-TiO2 nanocomposite films by one-step gas-phase deposition
Ag-TiO2 nanoparticulate composite films were fabricated in the gas phase by simultaneous plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition and physical vapor deposition. To investigate the impact of heat treatment on their structural and morphology evolution in terms of their photocatalytic performance, the as-fabricated films were subjected to different annealing temperatures. The properties of the produced nanocomposites (e.g., particle size, crystalline phase, crystallite size, phase content, and photocatalytic activity) were tuned by changing the annealing temperature. The highest photocatalytic performance was attained at an annealing temperature of 700 degrees C, with a mixed-phase composition of anatase (77%) and rutile (23%). The photocatalytic activity for a series of experiments carried out at different temperatures of heat treatment decreased in the order of anatase-rutile mixed > anatase > rutile.