Silver@mesoporous Anatase TiO2 Core-Shell Nanoparticles and Their Application in Photocatalysis and SERS Sensing

Abstract

Nanostructured noble metal-semiconductor materials have been attracting increasing attention because of their broad application in the field of environmental remediation, sensing and photocatalysis. In this study, a facile approach for fabricating silver@mesoporousanataseTiO2 (Ag@mTiO2) core-shell nanoparticles employing sol-gel and hydrothermal reaction is demonstrated. The Ag@mTiO2nanoparticles display excellent surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) sensitivity and they can detect the methylene blue (MB) molecules with the concentration of as low as 10−8 M. They also exhibit outstanding photocatalytic activity compared with mTiO2, due to the efficient separation and recombination restrain of electron–hole pairs under ultraviolet light. The Ag@mTiO2nanoparticles also present good stability and they can achieve recyclable photocatalytic degradation experiments for five times without loss of activity. Subsequently, the nanoparticles with dual functions were successfully used to in situ monitor the photodegradation process of MB aqueous solution. These results, demonstrating the multifunctional Ag@mTiO2 nanoparticles, hold promising applications for simultaneous SERS analysis and the removal of dye pollutants in environmental field.