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CO2 Laser Sintering of TiO2 Nanoparticles Thin Films for Improved Transmittance

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Abstract

Photothermal CO2 laser sintering of anatase titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles (NPs) is reported in this paper for depositing transparent TiO2 thin films on quartz substrates. Drops of TiO2 NPs suspension are spread on the substrates using a spin-coating technique to prepare wet TiO2 thin films of different thicknesses in a controlled manner. These wet films are subsequently heated with a CO2 laser (\(\lambda =10.6 \;\mu m\)) in two stages, corresponding to the drying process for evaporating the liquid of the nanoparticles suspension and the sintering process for bonding the nanoparticles to form a transparent TiO2 film. The microstructures of the spin-coated (wet), dried, and sintered TiO2 films have been studied using optical and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The optical transmittance of the films is characterized by UV/Vis/NIR spectrophotometry and fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. The transmittance of the sintered TiO2 films increased nearly linearly over the ultraviolet (UV) to visible (Vis) range of wavelengths and reached an average transmittance above \(\sim 92\%\) in a certain infrared (IR) range, e.g. at \(2500 \;nm\) wavelength, and their transparency is slightly affected by the film thickness. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis revealed that the sintered TiO2 films are polycrystalline with an anatase crystal structure, without the appearance of any traces of the rutile phase of TiO2.

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Acknowledgements

The authors appreciate the service provided by the Materials Characterization Facility (MCF) for the XRD characterization and SEM imaging, and the CREOL cleanroom for profilometer measurements at UCF. The authors also thank Gunjan Kulkarni for his assistance in experiments and FTIR measurements.

Funding

This work was supported by Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division, IRflex Corporation under Contract No. N6893621C0039 and the Postdoctoral Scholar Program of UCF (P3 Program) under Contract No. 65019B31.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Research and Education in Optics and Lasers (CREOL), The College of Optics and Photonics, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL, 32816, USA

    Yahya Bougdid & Aravinda Kar

  2. Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL, 32816, USA

    Yahya Bougdid & Ranganathan Kumar

  3. IRflex Corporation, 300 Ringgold Industrial Parkway, Danville, VA, 24540, USA

    Francois Chenard

  4. Naval Air Warfare Center, Aircraft Division, Patuxent River, MD, 20670, USA

    Chandraika (John) Sugrim

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  1. Yahya Bougdid
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  4. Ranganathan Kumar
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  5. Aravinda Kar
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Contributions

Y. B., A. K., R. K., F. C., and C. J. S. designed and planned the experiments. A. K., R. K., F. C., and C. J. S. were responsible for project planning. Y. B. carried out the experiments, collected the data, and processed the images. Y. B., A. K., and R. K. analyzed the results, co-wrote, and reviewed the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Aravinda Kar.

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Bougdid, Y., Chenard, F., Sugrim, C.(. et al. CO2 Laser Sintering of TiO2 Nanoparticles Thin Films for Improved Transmittance. Lasers Manuf. Mater. Process. (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40516-023-00241-6

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