ELECTROPHOTOGRAPHIC AND MICROWAVE PHOTODIELECTRIC STUDIES ON TITANIUM-DIOXIDE PIGMENTS IN THE SOLID-STATE

In this paper, we report some novel preliminary findings on the photoactivity of titanium dioxide pigments using photoconductive and microwave dielectric techniques. A variety of pigment types were investigated by both methods, including the two crystalline forms of titanium dioxide, anatase and rutile, and a variety of coated pigments. Analysis of the data obtained indicates that there are possible relationships between the photoconductive and photodielectric results, and that these may be used to characterize the pigment types rapidly. Photoconductive measurements were carried out on pigmented films of poly(N-vinylcarbazole) (PVK). Uncoated pigments were found to be more photoconductive than coated pigments with the anatase modification being the more active. It is believed that the pigments act as "trapping" sites to the holes produced by PVK, and that the more photoactive the pigment, the easier it is to regenerate the holes. Various factors influence the band gap of the pigment and these have a significant effect on the photoactivity and photoconductivity of the pigment samples. These include the presence of traps and recombination centres (present as coatings on the surface of the pigment particle) and impurities which can act as acceptors or donors. Microwave dielectric measurements were carried out on the different anatase and rutile pigments, each exhibiting a different microwave resonant frequency loss depending on the nature of the crystalline modification and the coating. However, on illumination of the pigments with polychromatic light in the microwave cavity, the resonant frequency losses exhibit shifts, the nature of which depend on the pigment type and the coating. Thus the anatase pigments exhibit greater responses than the rutile pigments, particularly with regard to the shift in the resonant frequency values and the change in the Q factor of the resonant peak. The resonant frequency values of the anatase samples are also higher than those obtained for the rutile samples. Furthermore, the frequency shifts are in opposite directions, with the anatase modification exhibiting a more rapid shift to lower frequencies and rutile a slower shift to higher frequencies. It appears that, when the anatase samples are irradiated, their dielectric properties change from those characteristic of a conductor-like material to those of an insulator-like material. However, these changes are reversible once the illumination is terminated. With the rutile samples, irradiation increases the resonant frequency values and hence their dielectric constants. Thus the pigments appear to become more like conductors.