Evolution of microstructure and optical properties of TiO2/Au nanocomposite

Tripathy, B B; Behera, M ; Rath, H ; Mallick, Pravanjan ; Mishra, N C

Abstract

TiO2/Au nanocomposite has been synthesized by mixing Au with milled TiO2 nanopowder through wet chemical route. The effect of Au on the microstructural and optical properties of TiO2 nanopowder has been studied by XRD, FESEM, UV Visible, PL and FTIR techniques. Our study indicates that Au causes the decrease of crystallite size of TiO2 by accumulating on the circumference of these nanoparticles. TiO2/Au nanocomposite exhibits strong spectral response in the visible range due to the surface plasmon effect. Band gap of TiO2 nanopowder reduces from 3.4 eV to 3.1 eV while making composite with Au. The PL spectra showed that emission peak intensity of TiO2 nanopowder decreases in the presence of Au. The reductions in band gap and electron-hole recombination in TiO2/Au nanocomposite suggest that TiO2/Au could be a good candidate for photocatalysis.

Keyword(s)

Phase transformation; Ball milling; Titanium dioxide; Nanocomposite; SPR


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