We use "soft" surface science approach to prepare the samples, that permit the investigation of the metal/molecule interface by transient absorption spectroscopy. The overall structure of the sample consists of a mesoporous nanostructured metal oxide film, that acts as a host for the adsorbate-covered metal nanoparticles (see Fig. S1). The three dimensional nanostructured samples were prepared ...

In this paper, silica gel supported titanium dioxide particles (TiO2/SiO2) prepared by acid-catalyzed sol–gel method was as photocatalyst in the degradation of acid orange 7 (AO7) in water under visible light irradiation. The particles were characterized by X-ray diffraction, BET specific surface area determination, and point of zero charge measurement. The supported catalyst had large surface ...

The effects of palladium addition and the reduction methods on Au/TiO2 were investigated. Pd was loaded on TiO2 firstly by incipient-wetness impregnation, Au was then loaded by deposition-precipitation method. The nominal loadings of Au and Pd were 1 wt% and 0.01 wt%. The bimetallic catalysts were reduced by heating at 453 K, by flowing H2 at 423 K, or by NaBH4 at 298 K. The catalysts were char...

We have prepared a model catalytic system by depositing Pd onto a TiO2(110) surface held at approximately 720 K. Scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) reveals well-defined Pd nanocrystals consisting of (111) top facets with {111} and {100} side facets. The Pd nanocrystals go down to about 10 nm in width and 1.3 nm in height. Top facets can be imaged with atomic resolution, indicating the absence ...

This paper reviews the recent development of surface-reaction-limited pulsed chemical vapor deposition (SPCVD) technique for the growth of TiO2 one-dimensional nanostructures. SPCVD uses separated TiCl4 and H2O precursor pulses, and the anisotropic growth of TiO2 crystals is attributed to the combined effects of surface recombination and HCl restructuring at high temperature during elongated pu...

Plasmonic metal/semiconductor heterostructures show promise for visible-light-driven photocatalysis. Gold nanorods (AuNRs) semi-coated with TiO2 are expected to be ideally structured systems for hydrogen evolution. Synthesizing such structures by wet-chemistry methods, however, has proved challenging. Here we report the bottom-up synthesis of AuNR/TiO2 nanodumbbells (NDs) with spatially separat...

A series of different M/TiO2 catalysts are prepared, where M = Au, Pt, Pd and Ag, with a 0.2 wt% loading, tested for activity as photocatalysts the water gas shift reaction, WGSR, using continuous flow, phase reactor. For both thermal (dark) photocatalytic (UV irradiated) WGSR best catalyst/photocatalyst is Au/TiO2. The kinetics studied function reactor temperature, Au loading concentrations CO...

In this study, an effective low-temperature method was developed, for the first time, for the synthesis of bismuth titanate nanobelts by using Na2Ti3O7 nanobelts as the reactants and templates. The experimental procedure was based on ion substitution followed by a nanoscale solid-state reaction. In the first step, Na2Ti3O7 nanobelts were soaked in a bismuth nitrate solution where ion substituti...