Study of Band Gap of Silver Nanoparticles—Titanium Dioxide Nanocomposites

Abstract

The optical and chemical properties of Ag/TiO 2 nanocomposites were investigated to explore the possibilities of incorporating these new materials in Gratzel photoelectrochemical cells. The nanocomposites were obtained doping TiO 2 , in both allotropic species anatase and rutile, with silver nanoparticles (grown by laser ablation process). X-ray photoelectron data indicate the absence of Ag-Ti chemical bonds, while measurements of photoluminescence and optical absorbance in UV-visible range show a quench in photoluminescence emission of about 50% and an increase in visible absorbance of about 20%. Measurements of optical band gap, obtained by Tauc’s equation, indicate a variation of about 1.6 eV.