Rutile TiO2(101) based plasmonic nanostructures

TiO2/Ag and TiO2/Au nanocrystalline multilayer thin films were deposited using pulsed laser deposition technique. Investigations have been made to understand the influence of different phases of TiO2 on the surface plasmon characteristics of the thin films. Rutile phase of TiO2 is found to be a good host matrix for both Ag and Au nanoparticles. Compared to silver, gold nanoparticles are found to enhance the photocatalytic activity of the films by exhibiting a broad and intense absorption with a significant shift to longer wavelength region.