Premium
Facile Synthesis of Ag‐TiO 2 Hybrid Nanocluster:A Comprehensive Experimental and Computational Insight into the Role of Surface Ligands on Enhanced Visible Light Photo‐catalysis
Author(s) -
Goswami Tapas,
Singh Manjeet,
Reddy K. Mohan,
Mishra Abhishek K.
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
chemistryselect
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.437
H-Index - 34
ISSN - 2365-6549
DOI - 10.1002/slct.201801903
Subject(s) - nanoclusters , materials science , density functional theory , visible spectrum , photocatalysis , catalysis , rhodamine b , nanomaterials , band gap , nanotechnology , absorption (acoustics) , biocompatibility , chemical engineering , photochemistry , rhodamine , optoelectronics , chemistry , computational chemistry , organic chemistry , composite material , optics , physics , engineering , metallurgy , fluorescence
Owing to their ultrafine size, biocompatibility and excellent photo‐stability, metallic nanoclusters are promising materials which could be combined with ultra‐small TiO 2 to discover a new class of hybrid nanomaterial with unique photocatalytic and self‐cleaning properties. A lot of effort has been made very recently to combine silver nanoclusters (AgNC) with titania and hence size and composition controlled electronic and catalytic properties. However, most of the methods used extended network of titania to support AgNC and individual titania functionalized AgNC is rarely observed. In the present study, we report a new low temperature method of preparation of ultra‐small TiO 2 functionalized AgNC ligated with glutathione. AgNC alone shows negligible visible light photocatalysis whereas incorporation of ultra‐small titania, lowers the bandgap of the hybrid nanocluster and facilitate solar activation leading to enhanced catalytic activity. Visible light induced catalytic property of hybrid NCs are investigated in degradation of a model dye, Rhodamine B (RhB). Simple structural models Ag m (SCH 3 ) n ‐TiO 2 are used to explore the interaction of surface ligands with TiO 2 molecule using Density Functional Theory (DFT) calculations. The calculated absorption spectra using Time Dependent Density Functional Theory (TD‐DFT) have been used for monitoring the spectral shifts of characteristics absorption bands towards visible region.