| Abstract |
TTitania thin films, suitably doped and/or endowed with novel nano-scale architectures, are very promising materials for industrial and commercial applications because they may be induced to exhibit a variety of radical new properties. A major impediment to progress is lack of understanding of the relationship between the structure, composition and electronic properties of these systems and the functionalities that they give rise to. A second major obstacle to industrialization is the absence of synthetic methodologies that are reliable, well controlled and amenable to scale up at economical cost. This project is aimed at tackling both the above issues directly. A very wide range of methods ranging from sophisticated ultrahigh vacuum techniques, to electrochemical methods to novel organometallic chemical routes will be used to produce a variety of titania thin film structures, doped, structured, or otherwise modified to yield the desired functional materials. The common features are that the thin films should be capable of photo- activation by visible light and that the method of fabrication is compatible with industrial production. The new multifunctional properties sought include photocatalytic oxidation or reduction activity, photoelectrochemical behaviour, photoconductivity, photochromism, photomagnetic switching, sensing behaviour, photovoltaic response and controlled and 'switchable' wetting behaviour. Exploitation of these properties is of strategic importance to EU companies in the fields of health and environment protection, advanced materials, sustainable energy production and national and personal security. Provision of new knowledge and expertise in the area of nano-engineered multifunctional titania thin films will open important new market opportunities for European SME companies. Additionally, and of equal importance, it will also secure strategic research competences in a fast moving, technologically expanding multi-app
|
|---|
