Transactions of the INDIAN CERAMIC SOCIETY Vol. 69 2010
Thermally Stable Ultrafine Au Nanoparticles
Embedded in an Anatase Matrix
Megha Saha and Deepa Khushalani*
Pages: 131-134
DOI : 10.1080/0371750X.2010.11090829
Abstract
A novel method has been developed to form Au-TiO2 composites where the sizes of the Au nanoparticles (NP) are maintained below 5 nm along with a high level of loading. Specifically, an optimized TiO2 reactive sol was hydrolyzed in the presence of pre-fabricated 2.2 ± 1.4 nm CTAB capped Au NPs to form combined Au-TiO2 composites. It was found that the embedded Au NPs did not undergo any growth or aggregation even when the composites were heated up to 500șC. X-ray diffraction patterns of the as-synthesized and annealed products indicate that there was no bulk deposition of Au on the surface of the composite, concomitantly anatase phase of TiO2 formed and the Au NP sizes were maintained at 3.2 ± 1.0 nm. These were well dispersed within the anatase matrix and characterization of the products was done using transmission electron microscopy (TEM), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and X-ray diffraction (XRD).
