Gold-titanium dioxide developed structures for sensing and photocatalysis

In this work we demonstrate a rapid and facile method for creation of developed Au/TiO2 nanostructures. Characterization by combination of SEM and Raman scattering measurements show, that produced structures consist of chaotically oriented developed TiO2 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 TiO2 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/TiO2 nanostructures could be used for creation of dual functional devices for registering products formed during a photocatalytic reaction.