Titanium Dioxide Thin Films Containing Gold-Silver Nanoclusters by Sol–Gel Technique

Abstract

Abstract Pure and Au-Ag nanoclusters-doped TiO2 thin films have been synthesized by the sol–gel method and the effect of Au-Ag nanoclusters doping on their structural, morphological and optical properties was investigated by of X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), and Ultraviolet-Visible-Near infrared (UV-Vis-NIR) spectrophotometry, respectively. XRD spectrum indicated that all of TiO2 thin films were polycrystalline anatase with a body-centered tetragonal structure. SEM images show that all thin films are compact, dense and adhered well to the substrates. The maximum transmittance values of pure and TiO2 thin films are over 90% when Au-Ag nanoclusters concentration is up to 40% doping level. The optical band gap of the as-grown TiO2 thin films decreases from 3.63 to 3.31 with increasing dopant concentration. These results provide some useful references for the potential application of these thin films in device technology.