Novel fabrication of net-like and flake-like Fe doped TiO2 thin films

New morphologies of net-like and flake-like TiO2 thin films with different concentrations of Fe dopant were successfully fabricated by micro-arc oxidation (MAO) process of Ti plates and a subsequent chemical treatment of the as-prepared MAO-TiO2 thin films. It was found that Fe ions can be easily introduced into the MAO-TiO2 samples with the increase concentration of K-4(FeCN)(6)center dot 3H(2)O precursor, and the amount of Fe determined the morphologies of TiO2 thin films after chemical treatment; net-like morphology was observed with low Fe dopant, while it transformed to a flake-like one when Fe exceeds 1.7 at.%. UV-vis spectroscopy test showed that the absorption edge of the Fe ions doped TiO2 thin films with new morphologies has an obvious red shift. (C) 2011 Elsevier B. V. All rights reserved.