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Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Surface segregation in TiO 2 -based nanocomposite thin films

Venkata Sai Kiran Chakravadhanula, Christian Kübel, Tomislav Hrkac, Vladimir Zaporojtchenko, Thomas Strunskus, Franz Faupel and Lorenz Kienle



The morphology of nanocomposites plays a pivotal role in understanding their functionality and determines their capabilities for applications. The use of nanocomposite coatings requires a study of the size effects on their functional properties. Noble metal nanoparticles are promising candidates for nanocomposite thin film applications due to their antibacterial, plasmonic and photocatalytic properties. In this contribution, the morphology of Ag–TiO 2 and Au–TiO 2 nanocomposite thin films has been investigated experimentally using electron tomography in transmission electron microscopy in combination with UV/vis spectroscopy. Based on the additional 3D information obtained from tomography, we propose a two-step model towards the observed bimodal particle size in these nanocomposite thin films prepared by co-sputtering from two different sources. Furthermore, we show that the optical properties exhibit a well-defined relation with the morphology of the nanocomp...



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