Influence of ultrasonic and mechanochemical treatment on the electronic structure of functional composites of TiO and ZrO

The effect of various methods, in particular, mechanochemical and ultrasonic treatment of TiO2/ZrO2 composites, on the electronic structure was investigated. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) was used. XPS spectra were analyzed using an original technique for decomposing the spectra into components. We analyzed changes in the binding energies of the core electrons, the spin-orbital splitting, changes in the full width at half-maximum of the peaks, and relative changes in the intensity of the spectral components. It is shown that mechanochemical treatment of the TiO2/ZrO2 composite leads to a significant increase in oxidation capacity compared to ultrasonic treatment. It was found that during ultrasonic treatment, compared to mechanochemical treatment, the content of the nanocrystalline X-ray amorphous phase of titanium oxide increases with a relative decrease in the X-ray amorphous phase of zirconium oxide. Both mechanochemical and ultrasonic treatments of the TiO2/ZrO2 composite contribute to a more homogeneous composition compared to the original sample. During the composite treatment, part of the titanium oxide underwent a phase transition from anatase to rutile. Based on the analysis of X-ray photoelectron spectra, recommendations for the use of processing methods to obtain improved physical and chemical properties ofcomposites are given. Keywords: