An uniform titanium oxide film was grown on indium tin oxide/glass substrate with the aqueous solutions of ammonium hexafluoro-titanate and boric acid. The as-deposition titanium oxide film shows good electrochromic property because of fluorine passivation on defects and dangling bonds. The transmittance of as-grown titanium oxide on indium tin oxide/glass with a thickness of 270 nm is about 85% at the wavelength of 550 nm. By 50 times electrochromic cycling test, the transparency ratio of TiO2 film is kept at 45% between fully colored state and fully bleached state at the wavelength of 550 nm. Under ultraviolet illumination, the growth of titanium oxide film grown is enhanced. The root mean squared value of surface roughness is improved from 3.723 to 0.523 nm. Higher fluorine concentration from (NH4)2TiF6 passivate defects and dangling bonds of titanium oxide during the growth. After 50 times electrochromic cycling test, the transparency ratio UV-TiO2 is improved from 37.5% to 42.4% at the wavelength of 550 nm. The electrical characteristics of nickel-doped titanium oxide films on p-type (100) silicon substrate by liquid phase deposition were investigated. For nickel doping, the nickel chloride was used as the doping solution and the electrical characteristics were improved. After thermal annealing in nitrous oxide at 700 oC, the dielectric constant of polycrystalline titanium oxide film is 29 and can be improved to 94 with nickel doping. Uniform nickel oxide film was grown on a conducting glass substrate with the aqueous solution of saturated NiF2¡E4H2O solution and H3BO3. The quality of NiO is improved after thermal annealing at 300 oC in air from the decrease of oxygen vacancy and better F ion passivation on defects and dangling bonds. The transmittance of as-deposited NiO/ITO/glass with a thickness of 100 nm is about 78% and improved to 88% after annealing at the wavelength of 550 nm. By the electrochromic cycling test 50 times on annealed NiO film, the transparency ratio is kept at 48% between fully colored state and fully bleached state at the wavelength of 550 nm. By the memory time test, the annealed LPD-NiO film has shorter memory time. The growth of nickel oxide film grown on indium-tin oxide/glass substrate by liquid phase deposition is enhanced under ultraviolet photo-irradiation was studied. a-Ni(OH)2 dominates the composition of as-grown NiO film. After thermal treatment at 300 oC,a-Ni(OH)2 is transformed into NiO. For thermally treated NiO under ultraviolet photo-irradiation, the recrystallization and the colored and bleached transmittance after 50 times electrochromic test were improved. Both improvements come from fluorine passivation. Transparent and conductive thin films consisting of p-type nickel oxide (NiO) semiconductors were prepared by liquid phase deposition. A resistivity of 8 x 10-1 -cm was obtained for NiO films prepared at liquid phase deposition. The transmittance of NiO is almost 70 % in the 550 nm wavelength was obtained for a 384.3 nm thick NiO film.

Abstract Recently, titanium dioxide¡]TiO2¡^ is one of the most extensively studied transition-metal oxides because of its remarkable photocatalyst efficiency and electronic properties. In this paper, thin films ware obtained by dual ion beam sputtering. By different processes, these samples can be classified into three categories. Firstly, thin films, deposited on 200 mash copper grids for 15 minutes, were investigated that many TiO grains is about 5 nm in size by transmission electron microscopy¡]TEM¡^. Next, TiO2 thin films, sputtered on si wafers and glass for 180 minutes in an O2 environment by using titanium target, were initially identified by X ray diffraction instrument¡]XRD¡^. The result shows that some thin films have good orientations. By TEM, TiO2 grains on bottom of films are about 20 nm. By scanning electron microscopy¡]SEM¡^, TiO2 grains on the surface are about 1~2 £gm in size and are oblong in shape. The last, TiO thin films were directly deposited on si wafer for 180 minutes in no O2 environment by using titanium target and then annealed to transform from TiO to TiO2. By XRD, the thin film, annealed at 600¢J for 1hr, has good orientation. By TEM, TiO2 grains, annealed at 1000¢J for 24hr, grow up to 1-2 £gm in size and are oblong in shap.

In the first part of the study, birchwood xylan-lignin film formation was studied. After film forming effect of lignin on pure birchwood xylan was demonstrated, the minimum lignin concentration necessary to form films was determined as 1.1% (lignin/xylan). So, it was determined that keeping about one percent lignin in xylan (w/w) was sufficient for film formation. Biodegradability of the lignin-birchwood xylan composite films was investigated enzymatically using 0.21 U / ml xylanase in an accelerated test. All the films containing lignin were hydrolyzed by xylanase showing biodegradability of the films. Colors of the birchwood xylan-lignin composite films containing different lignin concentrations were compared. Deviations of the color from the reference color were similar between the films. In the second part of the study, photocatalytic antimicrobial film production was investigated on wheat gluten-based films. In order to produce antimicrobial films, wheat gluten films were coated with a semiconductor, titanium dioxide (TiO2), applying different procedures. Coated films were illuminated and photocatalytical inactivation of Escherichia coli on films were determined by antimicrobial tests. The coating procedure in which titanium dioxide (TiO2) was produced from titanium tetraisopropoxide (TTIP) in aqueous-nitric acid and aqueous-hydrochloric acid solutions gave the best antimicrobial result but the films turned out to be deformed and brittle. Spreading TiO2 sol-gel on semi-dried wheat gluten films resulted in flexible and undeformed films having about 40% antimicrobial activity.

Wide band gap metal oxides have recently become one of the most investigated materials in surface science. Among these metal oxides especially TiO2 attracts great interest, because of its wide range applications, low cost, biocompatibility and ease of analysis by all experimental techniques. The usage of TiO2 as a component in solar cell technology is one of the most investigated applications of TiO2 . The wide band gap of TiO2 renders it inecient for isolated use in solar cells. TiO2 surface are therefore coated with a dye in order to increase eciency. This type of solar cells are called dye sensitized solar cells . The eciency of dye sensitized solar cells is directly related with the absorbed light portion of the entire solar spectrum by the dye molecule. Inspite of the early dyes, recent dye molcules, which are called wider wavelength response dye molecules, can absorb a larger portion of entire solar spectrum. Thus, the eciency of dye sensitized solar cells is increased by a considerably amount. In this thesis the electronic structure of organic rings, which are the fundamental components of the dye molecules, adsorbed on anatase (001) surface is analyzed using density functionaltheory. The main goal is to obtain a trend in the electronic structure of the system as a function of increasing ring number. Electronic structure analysis is conducted through band structure and density of states calculations. Results are presented and discussed in the framework of dye sensitized solar cells theory.

Titanium dioxide (TiO2), a semiconductor, has been used in many areas like heterogeneous photocatalysis. In the present study, the effect of hydrothermal treatment conditions and the use of carbon nanotubes on the photocatalytic activity of sol-gel synthesized titanium dioxide were examined. The anatase particles were transformed into layered trititanate particles with either nanotube or nanoplate structure by hydrothermal treatment under the alkaline conditions. Post hydrothermal treatment under neutral conditions was also applied and mesoporous particles were transformed into nanostructured, highly crystalline and ordered anatase particles. Photocatalytic activities of hydrothermally treated samples were determined against Escherichia coli under solar irradiation. Results showed that hydrothermal treatment under alkaline conditions improved the photocatalytic activity. However, although being highly crystalline, after post treatment, a limited activity was obtained because of dehydration of active (101) face of anatase. Nevertheless, TiO2&amp / #8217 / s initial inactivation constant rose from 0.6 to 2.9 hr-1 after regeneration of active sites in aqueous medium under solar irradiation. In order to enhance the surface area and improve activity, multi-walled carbon nanotubes were utilized during the synthesis of TiO2. The effect of calcination conditions and presence of sodium, iron and cobalt on the photocatalytic activity were also studied. For these samples, photocatalytic activities were tested with methylene blue solution under UV irradiation. It was observed that the utilization of CNTs enhanced both the surface area and the activity. Compositions with highest CNT content had better activities for their ability to delay charge recombination. While pure TiO2&amp / #8216 / s initial decomposition constant was 0.8 hr-1, with sodium doping the best value of 1.9 hr-1 was achieved.

Mainly used food packaging materials are petro-chemical based polymers which present environmental problems since they are not biodegradable and ecologically sustainable. In this study, biodegradable biofilms are produced from xylan, extracted from cotton stalk which is an agricultural biowaste without nutritional value. Antimicrobial property was given to the biofilms with either titanium dioxide sol-gel coatings or titanium dioxide powder addition into the biofilm forming solutions. The antimicrobial activities of biofilms were tested against Escherichia coli. Among two different sol-gels coated and at different temperatures dried biofilms, BWX and CSX-50 biofilms treated at 120&deg / C and coated with SiO2/TiO2 showed 88&plusmn / 1% and 75&plusmn / 2% antimicrobial activities, respectively. Same samples treated at the same conditions but coated with non-SiO2 added TiO2 sol-gel yielded 63&plusmn / 3% and 63&plusmn / 2% antimicrobial activities, respectively after 2 h black light illumination. So, it was determined that the highest photocatalytic antimicrobial property was achieved with SiO2/TiO2 coated biofilms. Moreover different concentrations of TiO2 powder were integrated into xylan based biofilms and 100% photocatalytic inactivation was gathered at 5% (w/w) TiO2 addition achieved at both biofilms at the end of 90 min black light illumination. Biodegradability properties of the biofilms were investigated in soil burial test during 180 days and 10% (w/w) TiO2 powder added CSX-50 biofilms were recorded to be 91% biodegradable where non-powder added blank biofilms was found to be 95% biodegradable.

In the present work, anatase and rutile titanium dioxide (TiO2) coated lustrous mica pigments were prepared by heterogeneous nucleation method. Anatase-rutile phase transformation of the TiO2 on mica substrate was achieved by coating very thin layers of tin (IV) oxide on mica surfaces prior to TiO2 deposition. Muscovite mica, which was used in the experiments was sieved, pre-treated with sodium bicarbonate and decantated before coating process. The surface morphology of mica titania pigments and anatase-rutile phase transformation were investigated by SEM and XRD analyse, respectively. Also, microwave-assisted synthesis of copper phthalocyanine and tetracarboxamide copper phthalocyanine pigments were carried out with phthalic anhydride and trimellitic anhydride precursors, respectively. Molecular structures of these pigments were confirmed by FT-IR and UV-visible spectroscopy analyse. Furthermore, combination pigments were obtained by the process of deposition of copper phthalocyanine pigments on mica-titania pigment substrate in dimethyl formamide solvent. FT-IR analysis and XRD analyse were performed to observe the transformations in the crystal forms of copper phthalocyanines on the substrate. The surface morphologies of copper phthalocyanines on the mica titania pigments were investigated by SEM analysis. Varying amounts of copper phthalocyanines were deposited on the mica surfaces, and nitrogen elemental analysis was performed to determine the amount of copper phthalocyanines. The resulting pigments were incorporated into alkyd based resin to prepare paint samples. L*a*b* values, gloss property, and hardness of the paint samples were determined by color measuring device, gloss meter and hardness measuring device, respectively. The resulting combination pigments obtained in this study showed improved luster, hue, and color intensity. Furthermore, in literature it was reported that these pigments have very high bleed resistance. This can be attributed to large macromolecular structure of copper phthalocyanine on the surface of mica titania pigment that prevents bleeding of the pigment from the paint. Moreover, the paint samples obtained from combination pigments showed higher hardness with respect to the paint sample of the mica titania pigment.

Energy need in transportation and industry is mainly met by fossil fuels. This causes consumption of resources and some environmental problems. Diesel and gasoline engines are developed to consume fuel efficiently in vehicles. Since these engines work in a low fuel to air ratio, it becomes difficult to reduce nitrogen oxide emission. For this reason NO x storage/reduction (NSR) catalysts have been developed. While engines are operating under lean conditions alkaline or alkaline-earth component of NSR catalysts capture nitrogen oxides and during fuel rich period stored nitrates are reduced to nitrogen and oxygen gases. To develop this technology, different system parameters, for example system components and reaction environments have been widely investigated experimentally. To supplement the experimental findings, binding energies and structural properties of NO x on different catalyst components have been investigated theoretically. It has been experimentally observed that adding TiO2 to other conventional support materials increases resistance against sulfur poisoning, which is one of the main problems concerning NSR catalysts. For this reason, in this thesis (001) and (101) anatase surfaces have been investigated. Moreover, the effects of barium oxide units and layers on the electronic properties of the (001) anatase surface have been studied. To observe the effects of TiO2 as a support component, interactions of NO2 and SO2 on the unsupported and anatase supported (100) BaO surfaces have been compared. A clear increase in sulfur resistance has been observed in the presence of TiO2 in the catalyst under certain conditions.

Silver (Ag) was loaded to three different kinds (P-25, NT-22, and TiO(OH)2) of titanium dioxide (TiO2) powders through adding three different quantities (4.6, 9.2, and 13.8 ml) of silver nitrate (AgNO3) solution by mechanical ball milling process. X-Ray diffraction analysis suggested that Ag was loaded on the TiO2 powders in the form of silver oxide (AgO). SEM, particle size, and BET surface area analyses revealed that TiO2 particles agglomerated after ball milling, resulting in the decrease of specific surface area of the TiO2 powders. Powders P-25, NT-22, and TiO(OH)2 degraded 94 %, 46 %, and 26 %, respectively of MO solution under 1 h UV irradiation. Increasing amount of Ag loading enhanced photocatalytic activity of TiO2 powders under UV irradiation. The best photocatalytic performance was achieved by 13.8 ml AgNO3 solution added NT-22 powders. Percent methyl orange (MO) degradation of 13.8 ml AgNO3 solution added P-25, NT-22, and TiO(OH)2 powders under 1 h UV irradiation was 85 %, 96 %, and 67 %, respectively. Contact angle measurements revealed that hydrophilic properties of TiO2 powders were also improved by Ag loading. Moreover, TiO2 powders gained antibacterial prospect after Ag addition. Ag loaded TiO2 powders could be used effectively for the applications requiring better photocatalytic activity and antibacterial effect.

The photocatalytic activity of semiconductor metal oxides can be improved by the addition of sensitizer which enhances the band gap by considerable red shift of the absorption edge of semiconductor. In the present study, the effect of ascorbic acid as sensitizer on the photocatalytic activity of titania-silica binary mixtures was studied. The SiO2-TiO2 mixtures having 50wt%Ti:Si composition were prepared with sol-gel method. The surface area and porosity of the samples were modified by using various amounts of polyethylene glycol (PEG) as template. The thin films of the samples were obtained by dip coating of glass plates to colloidal solutions. The samples were characterized by methylene blue adsorption method and UV-Vis spectrophotometry. The photocatalytic activities of the samples were measured with methylene blue degradation, methyl orange degradation and direct water splitting in the presence and absence of ascorbic acid. Increase in the surface area and reaction rate with increasing PEG addition until a threshold value was observed. Highest methylene blue degradation activity was observed for 27g PEG added sol-gel derived film and surface area of this film is measured as 44m2/m2. Ascorbic acid presence shows a significant increase in the photocatalytic degradation activity of methyl orange. The sensitization effect of ascorbic acid was also compared with the effect of EDTA. It was found that the effect of ascorbic acid on the methyl orange degradation rate is significantly higher than the effect of EDTA. However, the effect of EDTA is more pronounced in water splitting reaction.