Enhancement of visible light-induced surface photo-activity of nanostructured N–TiO2 thin films modified by ion implantation

This work reports the morphological and chemical modifications induced in TiO2 thin films by bombardment with high energy N+ ions at different temperatures and their different photo-activity responses after implantation under visible and UV light illumination. When implanted samples are illuminated with visible light, no dye photo-decolouration takes place despite that light transformed the surfaces from hydrophobic to hydrophilic. In agreement with the Wenzel model of wetting, correlation is found between visible light photo-activity and film morphology. We conclude that the photo-activity response can be separated into shallow and Schottky barrier photo-activity, this latter involving a thicker layer of material.