TiO2 is used extensively as a gas sensing material due to its change in electrical conductivity under analyst gas exposure. Gold (Au) is a good catalyst that promotes chemical reactions by reducing the activation energy between sensing film and particular gas. Unloaded TiO2 and TiO2 nanoparticles loaded with 0.25-0.75 at% Au were successfully produced in a single step by Flame spray pyrolysis (FSP) technique. The structure and morphology of as-prepared products have been characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM). TiO2 and Au-loaded TiO2 nanoparticle films were prepared by spincoating technique. The gas sensing of H2 was studied at the operating temperatures ranging from 300-350°C in dry air. It was found that the TiO2 loaded with Au sensing film showed higher response of H2, with faster response time (within second) than pure TiO2 sensing film. The response increased and the response time decreased with increasing of H2 concentration.

Abstract. BiOI/TiO2 nanocomposites were successfully prepared by the two-step method, co-precipitation/solvothermal method. The amount of BiOI in the composites were varied as 0, 5.0, 7.5, 10.0 and 12.5 mol%. XRD results exhibited sharp and narrow diffraction peaks of both BiOI and TiO2 in all composite samples. Morphologies of as-prepared samples consisted of spherical shapes of TiO2 and nanosheets of BiOI. Diffuse Reflectance UV-visible (DR-UV-vis) spectra of composites drastically shifted into the visible range and the reduced band gap energies were observed. The composites obviously showed an enhanced phenol degradation of ca. 6 times higher than that of pure BiOI, pure TiO2 and Degussa P25. The maximum photocatalytic activity of ca. 68% was found for 10.0 mol% BiOI/TiO2 nanocomposite because of its increased visible light harvesting ability and its efficient electron-hole separation efficiency as observed from DR-UV-vis and photoluminescence spectra results.

The hydrogen gas sensors were developed successfully using flame-made platinum-loaded titanium dioxide (Pt-loaded TiO2) nanoparticles as the sensing materials. Pt-loaded TiO2thin films were prepared by spin-coating technique onto Al2O3substrates interdigitated with Au electrodes. Structural and gas-sensing characteristics were examined by using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and showed surface morphology of the deposited film. X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns can be confirmed to be the anatase and rutile phases of TiO2. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) showed that Pt nanoparticles deposited on larger TiO2nanoparticles. TiO2films loaded with Pt nanoparticles were used as conductometric sensors for the detection of H2. The gas sensing of H2was studied at the operating temperatures of 300, 350, and 400°C in dry air. It was found that 2.00 mol% Pt-loaded TiO2sensing films showed higher response towards H2gas than the unloaded film. In addition, the responses of Pt-loaded TiO2films at all operating temperatures were higher than that of unloaded TiO2film. The response increased and the response time decreased with increasing of H2concentrations.

Au-loaded TiO2nanoparticles were synthesized by the modified sol-gel method together with the impregnation method. Anatase phase of TiO2was obtained in all samples with an average particle size of 20 nm. For the enhancement of DSSCs, the dye-sensitized solar cells composed of the ITO/Au-loaded TiO2/N-719/electrolyte/Pt were fabricated. Au-loaded TiO2films were deposited by using squeegee method. Finally, the fabricated cells were studied upon an irradiation of solar light to study the performance. The fabricated cell with up to 1.0 mol% Au-loaded TiO2could enhance the performance by localized surface plasmon effect and scattering property.