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Synthesis And Energy Applications Of Mesoporous Titania Thin Films, Syed Z. Islam

Theses and Dissertations--Chemical and Materials Engineering

The optical and electronic properties of TiO₂ thin films provide tremendous opportunities in several applications including photocatalysis, photovoltaics and photoconductors for energy production. Despite many attractive features of TiO₂, critical challenges include the innate inability of TiO₂ to absorb visible light and the fast recombination of photoexcited charge carriers. In this study, mesoporous TiO₂ thin films are modified by doping using hydrogen and nitrogen, and sensitization using graphene quantum dot sensitization.

For all of these modifiers, well-ordered mesoporous titania films were synthesized by surfactant templated sol-gel process. Two methods: hydrazine and plasma treatments have been …