On titanium dioxide thin films growth from the direct current electric field assisted chemical vapour deposition of titanium (IV) chloride in toluene

• Electric field assisted chemical vapour deposition used to synthesis titania thin films.
• Significant alterations to crystallographic orientation and microstructure observed
• Order of magnitude reduction in half life of dye degradation obtainable

Titanium dioxide thin films were deposited from the aerosol assisted chemical vapour deposition reaction of titanium tetrachloride in toluene (1 M) at 600 °C and 5 L min− 1. Direct current electric fields were applied and increased in a range of 0 to 30 V during the reaction. Changes in particle size, agglomeration and particle shape were observed. Raman spectroscopy analysis revealed different composition of anatase and rutile and crystal phase depending on the field strength applied. The photocatalytic activity was calculated from the half-life or time needed by the films to degrade 50% Resazurin dye-ink initial concentration. High photocatalytic performance with high anatase content (98.3%) was observed with half-life values of 3.9 min. Deposited films with pure content in rutile showed better photocatalytic performance than films with mix of crystal phases with anatase content below 40%.