Plasma Oxidation of a Titanium Electrode in dc-Plasma Above the Water Surface

Plasma oxidation of a titanium electrode above liquid water was investigated to reveal the interaction between metallic titanium and plasma above liquid water. Dc-plasma was generated between the titanium and water electrodes. When the titanium electrode was set as anodal, a thick rutile layer was formed on the surface. We had reported previously that the layer showed the preferred orientation along 〈110〉normal to the surface. The degree of the preferred orientation showed a maximum of 0.8 at the electrode temperature of 1073 K. When the titanium electrode was set as cathodal, a plume was generated with the temperature rise because of the bombarding effect of cationic species in the plasma. The collected particles were spherical and were identified as anatase with a small amount of rutile. Optical emission spectroscopy suggested that an oxide layer (TiO₂) firstly formed on the Ti cathode surface, and then vaporization took place with the temperature rise. The spherical anatase particles were formed from the TiO₂ vapor through the rapid cooling.