Synthesis and photocatalytic property of Au-TiO<sub>2</sub> nanocomposites with controlled morphologies in microfluidic chips.

Ye, Ziran; Lu, Ping; Chen, Yiben; Xu, Zhixian; Huang, Haixia; Zhi, Mingjia; Chen, Zi Ang; Yan, Bo · Lab Chip · 2024

basic_science · Level V

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Abstract

We present an efficient approach for the consecutive synthesis of Au-TiO<sub>2</sub> nanocomposites with controlled morphologies in a microfluidic chip. The seed-mediated growth method was employed to synthesize Au nanorods as the core, and TiO<sub>2</sub> layers of varying thicknesses were deposited on the surface or tip of the Au nanorods. Au-TiO<sub>2</sub> nanocomposites with core-shell, dumbbell, and dandelion-like structures can be precisely synthesized in a one-step manner within the microfluidic chip by finely tuning the flow rate of NaHCO<sub>3</sub> and the amount of hexadecyl trimethyl ammonium bromide. Furthermore, we have investigated the photocatalytic activity of the synthesized nanocomposites, and it was found that Au NR-TiO<sub>2</sub> core-shell nanostructure with a thin TiO<sub>2</sub> shell exhibits superior catalytic performance. This work provides an effective and controlled method for the microscale preparation and photocatalytic application of various Au-TiO<sub>2</sub> nanocomposite structures.