Nucleation dynamics of nanostructural TiO2 films with controllable phases on (001) LaAlO3

Microstructure evolution and nucleation dynamics of TiO2 nanostructural thin films on (001) LaAlO3 substrates grown by the polymer-assisted deposition technique have been systematically studied with the increase of annealing temperature. Epitaxial anatase TiO2 phase with nanometer-scaled periodic surface strip patterns can be achieved when the sample is annealed at 900 ° C. It is also found that the morphology of the surface pattern is related to the ramping rate of the temperature during annealing. The formation of the surface strip pattern can be considered to be associated with the diffusion limit growth dynamics. The surface pattern structure was found to strongly affect the hydrophilic properties of the thin films.