Issue 20, 2022

Influence of the photodeposition sequence on the photocatalytic activity of plasmonic Ag–Au/TiO2 nanocomposites

Abstract

Bimetallic Ag–Au/TiO2 nanocomposites were synthesized by sequential photodeposition in order to investigate the effect of surface plasmon resonance (SPR) properties on photocatalytic activity for solar water splitting and methylene blue (MB) degradation. The photodeposition times were optimized for monometallic Ag/TiO2 and Au/TiO2 nanocomposites to yield maximum SPR absorption in the visible range. It was found that the photocatalytic activity of bimetallic Ag–Au/TiO2 nanocomposites outperformed monometallic nanocomposites only when Au was photodeposited first on TiO2, which was attributed to Au-core–Ag-shell nanoparticle morphology. In contrast, reversing the photodeposition order resulted in Ag–Au alloy nanoparticle morphology, which was mediated by the galvanic replacement reaction during the second photodeposition. Alloying was not beneficial to the photocatalytic activity. These results demonstrate alloying during sequential photodeposition providing new insights for the synthesis of TiO2-based photocatalysts with plasmon-enhanced absorption in the visible range.

Graphical abstract: Influence of the photodeposition sequence on the photocatalytic activity of plasmonic Ag–Au/TiO2 nanocomposites

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
06 Jul 2022
Accepted
30 Aug 2022
First published
31 Aug 2022
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY license

Nanoscale Adv., 2022,4, 4335-4343

Influence of the photodeposition sequence on the photocatalytic activity of plasmonic Ag–Au/TiO2 nanocomposites

B. D. Bhuskute, H. Ali-Löytty, M. Honkanen, T. Salminen and M. Valden, Nanoscale Adv., 2022, 4, 4335 DOI: 10.1039/D2NA00440B

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