Designing nano-buildings based on TiO2/WO3/Au

2^nd International Conference and Exhibition on Materials Science & Engineering

October 07-09, 2013 Hampton Inn Tropicana, Las Vegas, NV, USA

Lucian Baia

Accepted Abstracts: J Material Sci

Abstract :

In the last decades, a large number of titania based composites were synthesized for improving the (photo) catalytic performances. The critical role in getting progress in this issue is certainly played by the understanding of the metal/semiconductor and semiconductor/semiconductor interfaces as well as of the composite?s morphological particularities. For this reason, titania/tungsten (VI) oxide/Au composites with various amounts of the constituent oxides and different porosities were synthesized by sol-gel method (with or without supercritical drying) followed by selective noble metal photodeposition on the desired oxide?s surface (either on TiO 2 or on WO 3 ) and thermal treatment. The noble metal particles? localization was proved by scanning electron microscopy (SEM)/energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), while their size was obtained with the help of X-ray diffraction and transmission electron spectroscopy (TEM). The influence of the tungsten oxide on the structural and morphological properties of the composites was analyzed by performing X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS), Raman and sorption measurements. From the applicative perspective, an essential role is played by the selective deposition of gold on the oxide?s surface, and therefore, special attention was directed to understand the modifications of both the optical properties as well as surface particularities occurred as a result of Au deposition. Important changes related to the gap energy values and titania and tungsten species depending on the deposition type and tungsten amount were found. The morphological details were also comparatively analyzed for the aerogel like samples, i.e. supercritical dried, and xerogels

Biography :

Lucian Baia earned his Ph.D. degree in 2003 at the University of Würzburg, Germany. Since 2008, he works as Associate Professor at the Department of Condensed Matter Physics and Advanced Technologies. His current research focuses on obtaining and characterizing porous and highly porous nanoarchitectures with controllable morphology and structure for biomedical and environmental applications. He is author or coauthor of more than 65 peer-reviewed publications (h-index: 16), three books, and two book chapters, and is serving as an editorial board member of the ISRN Nanotechnology Journal and the Journal of Biosensors & Bioelectronics and Journal of Electrical & Electronics.