Effect of Annealing on Optical and Structural Properties of Rutile TiO2 Nanoarrays

One dimensional rutile-TiO 2 nanoneedles (NNs) and nanorods (NRs) were grown directly on transparent conductive Fluorine-doped SnO 2 -coated (FTO) glass substrates using Chemical Bath Deposition (CBD) method. Titanium (III) chloride was used as the precursor, followed by annealing at 200°C. The heat treatment leads to the conversion of TiO 2 nanoneedles into nanorods. Optical studies revealed that rutile-TiO 2 thin films have a high absorption coefficient and a direct bandgap which decreased slightly (3.14-3.09 eV) by applying heat treatment .The ease of deposition of rutile-TiO 2 nanocomposite with different morphologies at low temperature provides a new insight for potential applications in solar cells, sensors, catalysis and separation technology.