Thin films prepared by a hybrid deposition configuration combining two laser ablation plasmas with one sputtering plasma

Abstract

A hybrid configuration for multicomponent thin film deposition by combining two laser ablation plasmas with one sputtering plasma is presented. This setup was used to deposit TiO2 thin films modified simultaneously with Bi and Pt. In order to investigate the effect of the metal incorporation in titania the deposited films were characterized by X-ray photoelectron, Raman, UV–Vis and photoluminescence spectroscopies, as well as by X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy. The results showed that films with different load of Bi and Pt were obtained. The amount of these metals has an important effect on the compositional, structural and optical properties of the deposited films. Mixtures of TiO2 with Bi2O3 as well as metallic Bi and Pt are obtained at the highest Pt content. The index of refraction and band gap decrease as the Pt content increases making these films capable to absorb light from the visible region of the solar spectrum with potential applications as photocatalysts to degrade organic pollutants present in wastewaters. © 2019, Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.