Electromagnetic absorption and conductivity of organometallic TiOx–Py plasma compounds

Abstract

Organometallic compounds made of titanium oxide (TiOx) and pyrrole (Py) were synthesized by plasma to combine the photoelectronic activity of TiO and Py in hybrid materials with potential use in photostimulated processes as photoelectronic devices in pollutant degradation or in solar photocollectors. The Ti precursors were based on titanium tetrapropoxide combined with Py in 1:1 mass ratio in a vacuum tubular glass reactor under resistive electrical glow discharges of water vapor plasmas. The TiOx–Py hybrid compounds with x in the 2.75–3.55 interval absorbed electromagnetic radiation in two regions with different intensities. The first and most intense one was from approximately 190 to 350 nm and the other from roughly 350 to 900 nm, which indicates that in the first interval, the TiO fraction dominates the absorption and that the activity of the second region belonged to Py segments. The electrical conductivity was in the (10⁻⁶–10⁻¹⁰) S/m interval with activation energy in the (0.015–2.42) eV range, depending on the reaction time and synthesis conditions.