Temperature influence on microstructure and optical properties of TiO2-Au thin films

A. Lahmar (1) , A. Benchaabane , M. Aderdour , A. Zeinert (1) , M. Es-Souni

1 LPMC - Laboratoire de Physique de la Matière Condensée - UR UPJV 2081

TiO2-Au thin films were deposited on quartz substrate using sol-gel technique. The influence of the annealing temperature on microstructure and optical properties was examined. SEM micrographs showed a homogeneous distribution of Au nanoparticles when the annealing temperature is increased. X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy allowed the identification of the anatase phase at 500 degrees C that persisted up to 800 degrees C. Optical spectra showed the presence of localized plasmon resonance as a result of the presence of Au nanoparticles; the loci of the absorption peaks were found to depend on the annealing temperature. The effective medium model was used to describe the spectrophotometric measurements. Numerical calculations permitted the determination of optical constants. The band gap Eg of TiO2-Au thin films was found to decrease from 3.21 to 2.71 eV with increasing annealing temperature.

Domaines: Matière Condensée [cond-mat]

A. Lahmar, A. Benchaabane, M. Aderdour, A. Zeinert, M. Es-Souni. Temperature influence on microstructure and optical properties of TiO2-Au thin films. Applied physics. A, Materials science & processing, 2016, 122 (2), ⟨10.1007/s00339-016-9681-y⟩. ⟨hal-03627748⟩