Tailored Fabrication of Transferable and Hollow Weblike Titanium Dioxide Structures

Arto Hiltunen; Kimmo Lahtonen; Jesse Saari; Anniina Ojanperä; Essi Sarlin; Holger Wondraczek; Alexander Efimov; Kimmo Kaunisto; Paola Vivo; Chiara Maccato; Davide Barreca; Pedro Fardim; Nikolai Tkachenko; Mika Valden; Helge Lemmetyinen

doi:10.1002/cphc.201600930

Tailored Fabrication of Transferable and Hollow Weblike Titanium Dioxide Structures

Chemphyschem. 2017 Jan 4;18(1):64-71. doi: 10.1002/cphc.201600930. Epub 2016 Nov 16.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemistry and Bioengineering, Tampere University of Technology, P.O. Box 541, 33101, Tampere, Finland.
² Surface Science Laboratory, Optoelectronics Research Centre, Tampere University of Technology, P.O. Box 692, 33101, Tampere, Finland.
³ Department of Materials Science, Tampere University of Technology, P.O. Box 589, 33101, Tampere, Finland.
⁴ Laboratory of Fibre and Cellulose Technology, Åbo Akademi University, Porthansgatan 3, 20500, Turku, Finland.
⁵ INSTM, Department of Chemistry, Padova University, 35131, Padova, Italy.
⁶ CNR-ICMATE and INSTM, Department of Chemistry, Padova University, 35131, Padova, Italy.
⁷ Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Leuven, Celestijnenlaan 200F bus 2424, B-3001, Leuven, Belgium.

PMID: 27805802
DOI: 10.1002/cphc.201600930

Abstract

The preparation of weblike titanium dioxide thin films by atomic layer deposition on cellulose biotemplates is reported. The method produces a TiO₂ web, which is flexible and transferable from the deposition substrate to that of the end application. Removal of the cellulose template by calcination converts the amorphous titania to crystalline anatase and gives the structure a hollow morphology. The TiO₂ webs are thoroughly characterized using electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy to give new insight into manufacturing of porous titanium dioxide structures by means of template-based methods. Functionality and integrity of the TiO₂ hollow weblike thin films were successfully confirmed by applying them as electrodes in dye-sensitized solar cells.

Keywords: photochemistry; surface analysis; templated synthesis; thin films; titanium.