Preparation and Investigation of the Thermal Stability of Phosphate-modified TiO2 Anatase Powders and Thin Films

The temperature dependence of the anatase-to-rutile phase transition of TiO2 powders and thin films was studied. In order to shift the phase transition to higher temperature, samples were doped with a different amount of phosphate ions and their influence on the structure and thermal stability of the anatase phase was investigated. In addition, the effect of the catalyst form (powders or thin films) on the temperature of the anatase-to-rutile phase transition was observed. TiO2 thin films and powders were prepared using a simple sol-gel method with an alkoxide precursor and citric acid. The thin films were deposited on silicon and aluminum substrates using the dip-coating technique. The content of the anatase phase and the crystallite size at different annealing temperatures were monitored using X-ray diffraction. The course of the thermal decomposition was followed using thermal analyses. The morphology, particle size, shape and elemental makeup of the samples were investigated using scanning electron microscopy and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. The results showed that the phosphate ions successfully inhibited the growth of the anatase nanoparticles and delayed the phase transition to the rutile phase.