Nanostructured TiO₂ Film Deposition by Supersonic Plasma Jet Source for Energetic Application

Titanium dioxide (TiO₂) materials are widely used in a variety of applications in the environmental and energy fields, such as self-cleaning surfaces, sensors, hydrogen generation by water photo-electrolysis, and photo-electrochemical conversion (e.g. DSSC and thin film solar cells) Paulose et al. (Nanotechnology 17:398, 2006) and Burschka et al. (Nature 499:316–319, 2013). In this work we use Plasma Assisted Supersonic Jet Deposition (PA-SJD) to realize TiO₂ thin film deposition Biganzoli et al. (J Mod Phys 3:1626, 2012). Vaporizable and stable monomer could be employed as the source of the oxides, the semiconductors or even the metals. In this work Titanium isopropoxide (Ti{OCH(CH₃)₂}₄), commonly referred as TTIP, is used as organometallic precursor. We have studied TiO₂ thin film roughness and morphology, and we have compared it to results obtained from numerical simulation of deposition process. So it is possible to relate surface morphology to film structure properties.