Nanocomposite approaches for the deposition of highly active photocatalytic thin films with plasma technology

Objective

"Photocatalysis is a potential tool for environmental and effluent water cleaning. Large band gap semiconductors, first of all TiO2, are commonly employed as photocatalysts. However, most of the photocatalytic materials possess band-gaps corresponding to the Ultra-Violet (UV) wavelengths (220-380 nm) and suffer from low efficiencies due to the high degree of recombination between the photogenerated charges carriers. The challenge is to develop a material with optical band gap in the visible wavelength of the sun’s spectrum (400 nm – 900 nm) and with a suitable flat band potential for efficient charge transfer across the interface. In addition, for many applications it is essential to use photocatalytically active materials in the form of thin films. The proposed work aims at developing a new thin film photocatalytic material to work at visible wavelengths of sun’s spectrum by the modification of TiO2. Two approaches will be followed: (i) nano-mixed phases of wide band gap metal oxides (like WO3 and CuO) and (ii) nano metal cluster (like e.g. Ag-, Cu-, W- clusters) embedded in a wide gap metal oxide as TiO2 is. Both approaches are aimed at influencing the photo-generated carriers and their transport. The nano mixed phases have altogether different band gaps, defect states and defect densities which will influence the electron – hole pair generation with visible wavelengths.
The fabrication of the coatings will be carried out making use of the plasma technology, and especially of sputtering. In fact, this is a very advantageous technique for the deposition of crystalline TiO2 thin films over a wide variety of substrates (e.g. glass, Si-wafer, metal) a low temperatures. Moreover, sputtering is also one of the most feasible methods for the deposition of metal ions and oxide nanoparticles over a thin film matrix, e.g. of TiO2, due to its versatility and the capability of controlling the phisycal properties of the particles by a proper choice of preparation parameters."

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/euroscivoc.

• natural sciences chemical sciences catalysis photocatalysis
• natural sciences chemical sciences inorganic chemistry inorganic compounds
• natural sciences physical sciences plasma physics
• engineering and technology materials engineering coating and films
• engineering and technology nanotechnology nano-materials

Programme(s)

Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.

• FP7-PEOPLE - Specific programme "People" implementing the Seventh Framework Programme of the European Community for research, technological development and demonstration activities (2007 to 2013)

Topic(s)

Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.

• FP7-PEOPLE-2010-IEF - Marie-Curie Action: "Intra-European fellowships for career development"

Call for proposal

Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.

FP7-PEOPLE-2010-IEF
See other projects for this call

Funding Scheme

Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.

MC-IEF - Intra-European Fellowships (IEF)

Coordinator