Preparation and application of poly(alkoxytitanate) as a TiO2 precursor with high storage stability

Titanium dioxide is a basic material of our daily life. Because of its favourable properties, such as harmlessness, chemical stability, photocatalytic activity, or whiteness it is increasingly applied in both micro and nano particles and thin films and coating. One of the available procedures for film forming is the sol–gel technology, an inexpensive low temperature process with wide possibilities to vary film properties by changing the composition of the precursor solution or other parameters. In the paper a new precursor polymer for TiO₂ film-preparation with high storage and processing stabilities is introduced and applied in thin film forming. The new precursor poly(alkoxytitanate) is prepared by a one step, water-free sol–gel method. A smooth TiO₂ film can be prepared using this precursor by spin-coating followed by H₂-plasma curing. Comparing to a common precursor such as Ti(O–iPr)₄, this precursor has a good solubility in different solvents and a much higher storage stability. The easy to modify precursor end groups enable the tailoring of properties regarding to hydrolysis to both TiO₂ particles and films.