Colloidal approach to Au-loaded TiO2 thin films with optimized optical sensing properties

Enrico Della Gaspera; Alessandro Antonello; Massimo Guglielmi; Michael L. Post; Valentina Bello; Giovanni Mattei; Filippo Romanato; Alessandro Martucci

doi:10.1039/C0JM03494K

Colloidal approach to Au-loaded TiO₂ thin films with optimized optical sensing properties†

Enrico Della Gaspera,‡^a Alessandro Antonello,‡^b Massimo Guglielmi,^a Michael L. Post,^c Valentina Bello,^d Giovanni Mattei,^d Filippo Romanato^e and Alessandro Martucci*^b

Author affiliations

* Corresponding authors

^a INSTM and Dipartimento di Ingegneria Meccanica Settore Materiali, Università di Padova, Via Marzolo 9, Padova, Italy
E-mail: alex.martucci@unipd.it

^b IOM-CNR, INSTM and Dipartimento di Ingegneria Meccanica Settore Materiali, Università di Padova, Via Marzolo 9, Padova, Italy

^c Institute for Chemical Process and Environmental Technology, National Research Council of Canada, 1200 Montreal Road, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

^d Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Padova, Via Marzolo 8, Padova, Italy

^e IOM-CNR and Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Padova, Via Marzolo 8, Padova, Italy

Abstract

TiO₂ and Au nanoparticles are synthesized by the colloidal technique and used for nanocomposite thin film preparation. The effect of thermal treatment and organic template presence is analyzed in order to tailor film microstructure. The Au-TiO₂ interfaces as well as the overall porosity of the films are analyzed combining structural and morphological characterization along with spectroscopic ellipsometry and surface plasmon spectroscopy analyses. An efficient surrounding of TiO₂ nanoparticles around Au colloids is obtained, leading to an extensive noble metal–metal oxide interface, improving functional properties of the films, while keeping a porous structure. Gas sensing tests are performed on these nanocomposites films: reversible sensing dynamics for CO detection are observed with high sensitivity and a correlation between response and recovery times and microstructure is reported.

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Article information

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1039/C0JM03494K
Article type: Paper
Submitted: 15 Oct 2010
Accepted: 05 Jan 2011
First published: 14 Feb 2011

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J. Mater. Chem., 2011,21, 4293-4300

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Colloidal approach to Au-loaded TiO₂ thin films with optimized optical sensing properties

E. Della Gaspera, A. Antonello, M. Guglielmi, M. L. Post, V. Bello, G. Mattei, F. Romanato and A. Martucci, J. Mater. Chem., 2011, 21, 4293 DOI: 10.1039/C0JM03494K

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Journal of Materials Chemistry