title: Fast and Low-Temperature (70 °C) Mineralization of Inkjet Printed Mesoporous TiO2Photoanodes Using Ambient Air Plasma.
abstract: Hybrid mesoporous titania/silica electron-generating and transporting layers were prepared using wet-coating with a dispersion consisting of prefabricated titania nanoparticles and a methyl-silica binder. Titania/methyl-silica wet layers were deposited by inkjet printing and further mineralized by low-temperature atmospheric-pressure air plasma using diffuse coplanar surface barrier discharge (DCSBD) to form a titania/silica hybrid nanocomposite coating. Morphological analysis performed by scanning electron microscopy revealed no damage to the titania nanoparticles and chemical analysis performed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy disclosed a rapid decrease in carbon and increase in oxygen, indicating the oxidation effect of the plasma. The coatings were further electrochemically investigated with linear sweep voltammetry and chronoamperometry. The magnitude of photocurrent and photocatalytic activity were found to increase significantly with the plasma exposure on the order of 10s of seconds. The results obtained demonstrate the potential of DCSBD ambient air plasma for fast and low-temperature mineralization of titania mesoporous coatings.
authors.affiliation: R&D Center for Low-Cost Plasma and Nanotechnology Surface Modifications (CEPLANT), Department of Physical Electronics, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University , Kotlářská 267/2, 611 37 Brno, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Tomáš
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Homola
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Chemistry, Brno University of Technology , Purkyňova 118, 612 00 Brno, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Petr
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Dzik
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Chemistry, Brno University of Technology , Purkyňova 118, 612 00 Brno, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Michal
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Veselý
authors.affiliation: R&D Center for Low-Cost Plasma and Nanotechnology Surface Modifications (CEPLANT), Department of Physical Electronics, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University , Kotlářská 267/2, 611 37 Brno, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Jakub
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kelar
authors.affiliation: R&D Center for Low-Cost Plasma and Nanotechnology Surface Modifications (CEPLANT), Department of Physical Electronics, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University , Kotlářská 267/2, 611 37 Brno, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Mirko
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Černák
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Chemistry, Brno University of Technology , Purkyňova 118, 612 00 Brno, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Weiter
keywords: TiO2 photoanode; ambient air plasma; fast mineralization; inkjet printing; low-temperature sintering; mesoporous coating; plasma treatment