Dopamine/TiO2 hybrid thin films prepared by the liquid phase deposition method

Liquid phase deposition method is applied to one-step production of a hybrid material composed by dopamine(DA) and TiO2 anatase. An optimized amount of the enediol derivative is added to a fluoride titania precursor aqueous solution in order to entrap this modifier within the growing TiO2, yielding a DA/TiO2 nanocomposite material. Uniform, well-adhered and brown-colored thin films are deposited on indium tin oxide covered glass substrate. The DA/TiO2 hybrid material has been characterized by infrared spectroscopy, electronic microscopy, X-ray diffraction and UV-vis spectroscopy. The formation of the hybrid material seems to be reasonably explained by linkage of different TiO2 nanocrystallites taking advantage of both enediol and amine groups of DA. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.