Plasmonic Enhancement of Titania Hollow Nanospheres with Gold for Efficient Photocatalysis
Poster Number
15B
Format
Poster Presentation
Faculty Mentor Name
Yadong Yin
Faculty Mentor Department
Chemistry
Graduate Student Mentor Name
Ji Feng
Graduate Student Mentor Department
Chemistry
Abstract/Artist Statement
Titania-based photocatalyts have shown strong potential for applications in hydrogen evolution and degradation of water pollutants. The considerable photoactivity of titania, paired with its high stability, high natural abundance, low cost, and low toxicity, make it an attractive candidate for feasible heterogeneous photocatalysis. However, the light absorbance of pure titania dominates in the ultraviolet frequency range, which only occupies 5% of the total energy coming from the sun. In order to capture a wider range of the solar spectrum, gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) are used as dopants to red-shift and broaden the absorbance range of titania. Rarely explored Au-doped TiO2 hollow nanospheres will be investigated as a potential nano-composite for photocatalysis. So far in this study, various alterations were made to a previously published hard-template method for the synthesis of titania shells. Fabrication was repeated until gold-doped hollow titania spheres with ideal structural integrity and porosity were achieved; the samples were examined using TEM. The titania shell size was found to be 200-300 nm in diameter, with a shell thickness close to 30 nm, and an average Au NP diameter of approximately 25 nm. The future work of this study will be to individually test the effects that the placement, size, and amount of the Au NPs have on the photocatalytic efficiency of the composite.
Location
DeRosa University Center, Ballroom
Start Date
29-4-2017 1:00 PM
End Date
29-4-2017 3:00 PM
Plasmonic Enhancement of Titania Hollow Nanospheres with Gold for Efficient Photocatalysis
DeRosa University Center, Ballroom
Titania-based photocatalyts have shown strong potential for applications in hydrogen evolution and degradation of water pollutants. The considerable photoactivity of titania, paired with its high stability, high natural abundance, low cost, and low toxicity, make it an attractive candidate for feasible heterogeneous photocatalysis. However, the light absorbance of pure titania dominates in the ultraviolet frequency range, which only occupies 5% of the total energy coming from the sun. In order to capture a wider range of the solar spectrum, gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) are used as dopants to red-shift and broaden the absorbance range of titania. Rarely explored Au-doped TiO2 hollow nanospheres will be investigated as a potential nano-composite for photocatalysis. So far in this study, various alterations were made to a previously published hard-template method for the synthesis of titania shells. Fabrication was repeated until gold-doped hollow titania spheres with ideal structural integrity and porosity were achieved; the samples were examined using TEM. The titania shell size was found to be 200-300 nm in diameter, with a shell thickness close to 30 nm, and an average Au NP diameter of approximately 25 nm. The future work of this study will be to individually test the effects that the placement, size, and amount of the Au NPs have on the photocatalytic efficiency of the composite.