Electrophoretic deposition and characterization of self-doped $SrTiO_3$ thin films

Abstract

Herein, titanium $(Ti^{3+})$ self-doped strontium titanate $(SrTiO_3)$ , so-called blue $SrTiO_3$ , with a bandgap of 2.6 eV and favorable photocatalytic characteristics was fabricated through a facile and effective method. For electrochemical investigations, the electrophoretic deposition was applied to produce $SrTiO_3$thin films on (fluorine-doped tin oxide) FTO conductive substrates. The electrophoretic voltage of 20 V and a process duration of 10 min were optimized to reach transparent and uniform coatings on FTO. The blue $SrTiO_3$ reveals lower resistance (charge transfer resistance of 6.38 Ω cm−2) and higher electron mobility (current density value of 0.25 mA cm−2) compared to a pure $SrTiO_3$ electrode. These findings may provide new insights for developing high-performance visible light photocatalysts