Abstracts Book - IMRC 2018

• SD4-P001
STRUCTURAL TEM CHARACTERIZATION OF AU/TiO2
NANOSTRUCTURES SYNTHESIZED BY ELECTRODEPOSITION IN A
NANOPOROUS ANODIC ALUMINA TEMPLATE.
Juan Ernesto Neri Cruz 1,2 , Hector Alfredo Calderon Benavides 1
1 Escuela Superior de Física y Matemáticas IPN, Departamento de Física, Mexico. 2 Instituto
Politécnico Nacional - IPN, Escuela Nacional de Ciencias Biológicas, Mexico.
The solar to chemical energy conversion efficiency of an artificial photosynthesis
(AP) device depends upon several factors that include solar absorption,
photogenerated charges separation and charge recombination in the
semiconductor material. In order to improve the efficiency of both the solar
absorption and the photocatalytic activity, numerous heterojunctions have been
synthesized by different research groups. However, best results have been
generated by building a semiconductor-metal heterojunction. In such a
procedure, the metal acts as an electron trap of the photogenerated electron
and helps improving charge carrier separation and reduce recombination. In the
present work, a Au/TiO 2 nanowires array has been synthesized via
electrochemical deposition. The nanowire array is produced by
electrodepositing first TiO 2 on an ITO substrate masked by a porous alumina
template. The alumina template was made by an anodization procedure in
oxalic acid. The pore diameter of the alumina template varied 40 to 60 nm. TiO 2
nanowires have been electrodeposited into the pores in a TiCl 3 electrolyte. The
synthesis procedure continues with deposition of gold nanoparticles under
different synthesis conditions as to achieve different nanoparticle sizes. The
heterostructures have been characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning and
transmission electron microscopy. The size and chemical constitution of the
device components are reported.
Keywords: artificial photosynthesis, semiconductor-metal heterostructures, TEM
Presenting authors email: ernesto.neri@live.com.mx