Gold-Titanium Dioxide Developed Structures for Sensing and Photocatalysis

In this work we demonstrate a rapid and facile method for creation of developed Au/TiO
2
nanostructures. Characterization by combination of SEM and Raman scattering measurements show, that produced structures consist of chaotically oriented developed TiO
2
component covered by densely arranged Au nanoislands. Measurements of surface-enhanced Raman scattering signal show the ability to easily detect methylene blue analyte at concentration of 10
⁻⁶
M while minimal detectable concentration on pure TiO
2
structures is 10
⁻⁴
M. In addition to sensing performance we noticed that our metal-dielectric structures are able to be used as photocatalyst with 2.3-fold enhancement in the reaction rate constant compared to pure dielectric ones. We believe, that proposed Au/TiO
2
nanostructures could be used for creation of dual functional devices for registering products formed during a photocatalytic reaction.