Efficient dual functionality of highly porous nanocomposites based on TiO 2 and noble metal particles

Abstract

Porous nanocomposites based on TiO 2 aerogels and Au and, respectively, Ag particles were synthesized and their dual functionality to decontaminate water, via photocatalysis, and to detect low concentrations of pollutants from water, via SERS technique, was evaluated using model pollutants. The apparent photodegradation rate constants of a standard pollutant molecule revealed a considerable improvement of the composites photocatalytic performances (even better than one order of magnitude) in comparison with the commercial product Degussa P25. The essential role of the contact between TiO 2 and Au nanoparticles was demonstrated and the potential of all synthesized porous composites for photocatalytic experiments with visible light was pointed out. The lowest concentrations of contaminants adsorbed on the noble metal particles detectable by SERS were found to depend on the composite and pollutant species type and were determined to be between 10 −3 and 5 × 10 −6 M, and 10 −8 and 10 −10 M for off and under resonant excitation, respectively. The morphological (BET, pore size distribution, TEM) and structural (Raman, XRD, diffuse reflectance) particularities of the obtained porous composites were also discussed.