Fabrication of nano-structured TiO2 coatings using a microblast deposition technique

Micron thick titanium dioxide (TiO2) coatings exhibiting a nano-structured, anatase, meso-porous structure were successfully deposited across a range of polymer, conductive glass and metallic substrates at low velocities using a microblasting technique. This process was conducted at atmospheric pressure using compressed air as the carrier gas and commercially available agglomerated nano particles of TiO2 as the feedstock. An examination of the effect of impact kinetics on the agglomerated powder before and after deposition was undertaken. A further examination of the coating microstructure along with photocurrent density measurements before and after thermal treatments was explored. Owing to the low temperature and velocity of the powder during deposition no change in phase of the powder or damage to the substrate was observed. The resulting TiO2 coatings exhibited relatively good adhesion on both titanium and FTO coated glass substrates with coating thickness of approximately 1.5 μm. Photo-catalytic performance was measured under solar simulator illumination using a photo-electrochemical cell (PEC) with a 5-fold increase in performance observed after thermal treatment of the TiO2 coated substrates. Microblasting was demonstrated to be a rapid and cost effective method for the deposition of nano-structured, photo-catalytic, anatase TiO2 coatings.