Abstract
Nanocomposites of confeito-like Au nanoparticles (CAuNPs) and TiO2 were synthesized under different irradiation conditions (darkness, UV light, and visible light) and time spans by the reaction of a Ti-citrate-peroxo complex with CAuNPs. The TiO2 synthesized under irradiation formed mesoporous films with embedded CAuNPs. The photocatalytic activity of the CAuNP/TiO2 nanocomposites was measured by the degradation of methylene blue (MB) under different irradiation conditions (darkness, UV light, and visible light). The results demonstrated that the bare CAuNPs decomposed MB under visible light and that this activity was enhanced by hybridization with TiO2. The activity of the CAuNPs was associated with the plasmon-induced effect, which the TiO2 enhanced by suppressing electron-hole recombination via acceptance of the hot electrons from the CAuNPs. This synergistic effect of the CAuNP/TiO2 nanocomposite varied with the amount of TiO2, and a thick layer of TiO2 decreased the activity as the surface of the CAuNPs was covered by TiO2. This behavior indicates that to design effective plasmonic devices and catalysts, an optimum balance between the amounts of CAuNPs and TiO2 must be achieved.
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Abbreviations
- AuNP:
-
Au nanoparticle
- CAuNP:
-
Confeito-like Au nanoparticle
- Cit:
-
Citric acid
- HRTEM:
-
High-resolution transmission electron microscopy
- MB:
-
Methylene blue
- SEM:
-
Scanning electron microscopy
- TEM:
-
Transmission electron microscopy
- UV-vis-NIR:
-
Ultraviolet-visible-near infrared
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This study was funded by the Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan (106-2221-E-011-164-).
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Kamely, N., Ujihara, M. Confeito-like Au/TiO2 nanocomposite: synthesis and plasmon-induced photocatalysis. J Nanopart Res 20, 172 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11051-018-4276-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11051-018-4276-5