Small-angle X-ray scattering and wide-angle X-ray diffraction on thermally annealed nanostructured TiO2 films

Abstract Films of nanostructured titanium dioxide (TiO 2 ) on glass substrates, prepared and annealed by different procedures (sol–gel and chemical vapour deposition), were examined by small-angle X-ray scattering and wide-angle X-ray diffraction. By treating a film as a two-phase system of grains and pores, the corrected relative surface of phases, S VC , was introduced and calculated as a morphological parameter that combines the relative surface and the volume fractions of the two phases. Its behaviour during the film annealing was predicted and tested on TiO 2 films. The analysis of evolution of films during thermal annealing treatment is given by means of corrected relative surface correlated with the grain size and structure.