Anionic, hydrolitically stable titanium(IV) complexes were used as precursors for assembly of small TiO2 clusters on Au nanoparticles. Attractive interactions between charged Ti precursors and Au particle surface facilitated application of the Ti complex, which was subsequently converted to TiO2 at 150C using O3 to destroy the organic ligand. The structure of the resulting TiO2 clusters was studied using Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SERS), where resonant effects of the Au surface provided substantial amplification of TiO2 signals in the spectrum. In combination with DFT calculations, this allowed to distinguish terminal and bridging Ti-O fragments, therefore placing the upper limit on the size of TiO2 clusters. Catalitic activity of the resulting assemblies was studied in oxidation reactions using O2 and H2O2 as the oxidants.

Surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy of catalytically active AuNP/TiO2 composites

255th National Meeting (2018)

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