Correlation of Thickness with the Photocatalytic Characteristic of TiO₂ Thin Films

5, 10, and 30 nm thickness of transparent TiO2 thin films were fabricated using sol-gel process, and the influence of film thickness on the photocatalytic property was investigated. The increase in film thickness was found to enhance the photocatalytic property of the films. Photocatalytic properties of each film were estimated by decomposition of stearic acid. The amount of decomposed stearic acid increased with film thickness (5 - 30 nm). For the case of 30 nm thickness film, the stearic acid was decomposed perfectly in twelve minutes. UV-vis spectra and photocurrents of each film clearly showed that the photoactivities of TiO2 films were related to the amount of absorbed UV light and band gap shift.