Analysis of Optical properties of nanocrystalline titanium dioxide films

The optical properties of materials can be characterized in terms of the complex refractive index. We developed a simple and efficient method for determining the complex refractive index of nanomaterials that uses the relationship between this parameter and the light spectrum measured for a specimen. The optical properties of nanoparticle and nanotube TiO2 films were investigated. The results show that the morphology of nano-TiO2 affects the complex refractive index spectrum and therefore influences light dispersion and absorption of the film. We also simulated the optical energy density distribution within equivalent plane films using complex refractive index data.