1 research outputs found
Surface Functionalization of Nanostructured Fe<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub> Polymorphs: From Design to Light-Activated Applications
Nanostructured
ironÂ(III) oxide deposits are grown by chemical vapor
deposition (CVD) at 400–500
°C on Si(100) substrates from FeÂ(hfa)<sub>2</sub>TMEDA (hfa =
1,1,1,5,5,5-hexafluoro-2,4-pentanedionate; TMEDA = <i>N</i>,<i>N</i>,<i>N</i>′,<i>N</i>′-tetramethylethylenediamine),
yielding the selective formation of α-Fe<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub> or the scarcely studied ε-Fe<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub> polymorphs
under suitably optimized preparative conditions. By using TiÂ(OPr<sup>i</sup>)<sub>4</sub> (OPr<sup>i</sup> = iso-propoxy) and water as
atomic layer deposition (ALD) precursors, we subsequently functionalized
the obtained materials at moderate temperatures (<300 °C)
by an ultrathin titanomagnetite (Fe<sub>3–<i>x</i></sub>Ti<sub><i>x</i></sub>O<sub>4</sub>) overlayer. An
extensive multitechnique characterization, aimed at elucidating the
system structure, morphology,
composition and optical properties, evidenced that the photoactivated
hydrophilic and photocatalytic behavior of the synthesized materials
is dependent both on iron oxide phase
composition and ALD surface modification. The proposed CVD/ALD hybrid
synthetic approach candidates itself as a powerful tool for a variety
of applications where semiconductor-based nanoarchitectures can benefit
from the coupling with an ad hoc surface layer