Au Nanoparticle-Decorated TiO₂ Nanospheres Produced by Laser Reshaping in Water

Abstract

Here, we demonstrate formation of spherical-shaped amorphous titania (TiO2) nanoparticles decorated with Au nanoclusters via nanosecond pulse ablation (7-ns, 532-nm wavelength) of commercially available TiO2 nanopowders dispersed in an aqueous solution of chloroauric acid (HAuCl4). Generation of such hybrid nanostructures was found to be caused by laser-induced remelting of the initial TiO2 nanoparticles, stimulated by Au nanoclusters that can adsorbed on their surface and boost light-to-heat conversion process in optically transparent titania. The morphology and chemical composition of the obtained hybrid nanomaterials were studied in detail via scanning electron microscopy, Raman spectroscopy and Energy Dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. The average size and number of Au nanoclusters reduced on the TiO2 nanoparticle surface was shown to be tuned by varying the initial nanoparticles/HAuCl4 concentration ratio. Spectroscopic measurements of single hybrid nanoparticles scattering, as well as the corresponding numerical calculations of electromagnetic fields structure near their surface indicate synthesized functional nanomaterials as extremely promising for numerous applications of modern optics, optoelectronics and nanophotonics, e.g., realization of advanced chemo-and biosensing platforms, as well as of new-generation solar cells.

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“…TiO 2 is the most widely used photocatalyst because of its physicochemical properties [8,9,15]. In photocatalysis TiO 2 was used in different forms such as nanoparticles suspension [16], nanotubes [17] and film/nanoparticles deposited onto different substrates [9, . The advantage of supporting nanoparticles on substrates is that it eliminates the need to separate catalyst particles from solution after treatment [20,[24][25][26][27][28][29][30].…”