Hydrogen Plasma Annealed Titanium Dioxide Oxide/Aluminum-doped Zinc Oxide Films Applied in Low Emissivity Glass

摘要

This study applies titanium dioxide oxide/aluminum-doped zinc oxide (TiO2/AZO) films on glass as low-emissivity glass to allow self-cleaning. The AZO and TiO2 layers respectively allow low-emissivity and self-cleaning. Previous studies of TiO2 films introduce Ti3+ and oxygen vacancies during the hydrogen plasma treatments process to increase the hydrophilic nature of the surface. This study anneals TiO2/AZO using hydrogen plasma to increase the hydrophilic nature of TiO2/AZO. TiO2/AZO films are deposited on glass substrates and then undergo hydrogen plasma treatment. AZO films also undergo hydrogen plasma treatment and the electrical resistivity is measured. The experimental results show that hydrogen plasma treatment of TiO2/AZO samples affects the structure, contact angle, and emissivity. The average roughness value for TiO2/AZO films decreases after hydrogen plasma treatment. The water contact angle for TiO2/AZO films decrease from 67.28° to 10.10° after hydrogen plasma annealing. After 1 hour of ultraviolet (UV) irradiation, the contact angle further decreases to 7.04°, so the films develop a super-hydrophilic surface. The emissivity, the water contact angle and the average visible transmittance for TiO2/AZO films that undergo hydrogen plasma treatment is 0.20, 7.04° and 83.01%, respectively. These results indicate a super-hydrophilic surface that is within the range for low emissivity glass.