| Summary: | Titanium oxide is widely applied as a photocatalyst. However, its low efficiency and narrow light absorption range are two main disadvantages that severely impede its practical application. In this work, black TiO<sub>x</sub> films with different chemical compositions were fabricated by tuning target voltage and controlling O<sub>2</sub> flow during reactive DC magnetron sputtering. The optimized TiO<sub>x</sub> films with mixed phases (TiO, Ti<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub>, Ti<sub>3</sub>O<sub>5</sub>, and TiO<sub>2</sub>) exhibited fantastic photothermal and photocatalytic activity by combining high light-absorptive Ti<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub> and Ti<sub>3</sub>O<sub>5</sub> phases with the photocatalytic TiO<sub>2</sub> phase. The sample prepared with oxygen flow at 5.6 ± 0.2 sccm and target voltage near 400 V exhibited excellent optical absorbance of 89.29% under visible light, which could improve surface temperature to 114 °C under sunlight. This film could degrade Rhodamine-B up to 74% after 150 min of UV irradiation. In a word, this work provides a guideline for fabricating black TiO<sub>x</sub> films with photothermal-assisted photocatalytic activity by reactive DC magnetron sputtering, which could avoid the usage of hydrogen and is convenient for quantity preparation.
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