Investigation of phase separation of nano-crystalline anatase from TiO2SiO2 thin film

In this work, a set of SiO2–TiO2 mixed oxides was prepared by the polymeric sol–gel route and deposited on glass substrate through the dip coating technique. Then, the effect of different important preparation parameters (sol–gel stabilizers, Ti content, and heat treatment) on the phase separation was investigated. The developed films were heat treated at 500 °C and characterized using TGA/DTA, FTIR, XRD, SEM, and AFM. The results showed that TiO2 segregation can be controlled by selecting an appropriate composition of diethanolamine (DEA) and methyl methacrylate (MMA) for preparation of polymeric silica–titania sol. Besides, anatase phase in the samples were crystallized without any stabilizers within heat treatment procedure at 500 °C; however, using appropriate composition of DEA and MMA crystallization rate significantly decreased.