Broadening the photoresponsive activity of anatase titanium dioxide particles via decoration with partial gold shells

• Main Authors: Orawan Khantamat, Chien Hung Li, Si Ping Liu, Tingting Liu, Han Ju Lee, Oussama Zenasni, Tai Chou Lee, Chengzhi Cai, T. Randall Lee
• Format: Journal
• Published: 2018
• Online Access: https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?partnerID=HzOxMe3b&scp=85036655387&origin=inward; http://cmuir.cmu.ac.th/jspui/handle/6653943832/43829
• Institution: Chiang Mai University

© 2017 Elsevier Inc. Titanium dioxide (TiO 2 ) has gained increasing interest in materials research due to its outstanding properties and promising applications in a wide range of fields. From this perspective, we report the synthesis of custom-designed anatase TiO 2 submicrometer particles coated with partial Au shells (ATiO 2 -AuShl). The synthetic strategy used herein yields uniformly shaped monodisperse particles. Amorphous TiO 2 core particles were synthesized using template-free oxidation and hydrolysis of titanium nitride (TiN); subsequent hydrothermal treatment generated anatase TiO 2 (ATiO 2 ) particles. Coating ATiO 2 particles with partial Au shells was accomplished using a simple seeded-growth method. Evaluation of the optical properties of these ATiO 2 -AuShl particles showed that these submicrometer composites exhibited an intense absorption peak for TiO 2 in the UV region (∼326 nm) and a broad extinction band in the visible range (∼650 nm) arising from the incomplete Au shell. These ATiO 2 -AuShl composite particles provide a unique and effective means for broadening the optical response of TiO 2 -based nano- and micron-scale materials. The simplicity of our synthetic method should broaden the application of ATiO 2 -AuShl particles in various visible light-driven technologies.