Abstract In this study, thin films of pure and chromium doped TiO2 were deposited by RF magnetron sputtering technique with recourse to a low cost powder target. The dopant concentration was varied from 0 to 6 wt%. The structural, optical, electrical and photocatalytic properties of the sputtered deposited films were systematically investigated on the basis of the incorporated Cr content. XRD analysis revealed that the elaborated films are polycrystalline and have a preferential orientation along the (110) plane, characteristic of the rutile phase. The optical measurements showed a good homogeneity of the films and a high transmission that reached 85% in the visible range. The high transparency of these films allows their use as an optical window in thin film solar cells. Optical band gap decreased from 3.44 eV to 3.32 eV with the increase of the Cr content. In addition, the impedance spectroscopy analysis showed that the conductivity increases along with increasing frequency and temperature, and that the conduction mechanism follows the correlated barrier hopping model. The test of the catalytic efficiency of the chromium-doped TiO2 thin films at different concentrations demonstrated a degradation of the methylene blue (MB) and an improvement of the photocatalytic activity and that the 6 wt% doped thin films have the best photocatalytic activity.

中文翻译：

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Cr掺杂对粉末靶材射频溅射TiO2薄膜结构、光电和光催化性能的影响

摘要 在本研究中，采用低成本粉末靶材，通过射频磁控溅射技术沉积纯铬掺杂 TiO2 薄膜。掺杂剂浓度在 0 至 6 重量％之间变化。在掺入的 Cr 含量的基础上，系统地研究了溅射沉积膜的结构、光学、电学和光催化性能。XRD 分析表明，精心制作的薄膜是多晶的，并且沿 (110) 面具有优先取向，这是金红石相的特征。光学测量表明薄膜具有良好的均匀性和在可见光范围内达到 85% 的高透射率。这些薄膜的高透明度使其可用作薄膜太阳能电池中的光学窗口。光学带隙从 3.44 eV 降至 3。32 eV 随着 Cr 含量的增加。此外，阻抗谱分析表明电导率随着频率和温度的增加而增加，并且传导机制遵循相关的势垒跳跃模型。不同浓度掺铬TiO2薄膜的催化效率测试表明，亚甲蓝(MB)降解，光催化活性提高，6wt%掺杂的薄膜具有最好的光催化活性。