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Thin films composed of Ag nanoclusters dispersed in TiO2: Influence of composition and thermal annealing on the microstructure and physical responses

Thin films composed of Ag nanoclusters dispersed in TiO2: Influence of composition and thermal annealing on the microstructure and physical responses
Thin films composed of Ag nanoclusters dispersed in TiO2: Influence of composition and thermal annealing on the microstructure and physical responses
Noble metal powders containing gold and silver have been used for many centuries, providing different colours in the windows of the medieval cathedrals and in ancient Roman glasses. Nowadays, the interest in nanocomposite materials containing noble nanoparticles embedded in dielectric matrices is related with their potential use for a wide range of advanced technological applications. They have been proposed for environmental and biological sensing, tailoring colour of functional coatings, or for surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy. Most of these applications rely on the so-called localised surface plasmon resonance absorption, which is governed by the type of the noble metal nanoparticles, their distribution, size and shape and as well as of the dielectric characteristics of the host matrix. The aim of this work is to study the influence of the composition and thermal annealing on the morphological and structural changes of thin films composed of Ag metal clusters embedded in a dielectric TiO2 matrix. Since changes in size, shape and distribution of the clusters are fundamental parameters for tailoring the properties of plasmonic materials, a set of films with different Ag concentrations was prepared. The optical properties and the thermal behaviour of the films were correlated with the structural and morphological changes promoted by annealing. The films were deposited by DC magnetron sputtering and in order to promote the clustering of the Ag nanoparticles the as-deposited samples were subjected to an in-air annealing protocol. It was demonstrated that the clustering of metallic Ag affects the optical response spectrum and the thermal behaviour of the films.
thin films, Ag clusters dispersed in TiO2, Localised surface plasmon resonance, thermal behaviour
0169-4332
1-10
Borges, J.
c8e5c89d-68cf-454e-a7c3-4f4629f32120
Rodrigues, M.S.
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Lopes, C.
75ae989a-13d8-46e4-9781-14d7dfc32045
Costa, D.
a3be0f6b-2273-42fa-a6cd-07bbd945365f
Couto, F.M.
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Kubart, T.
dd6b00f9-b497-47ac-9cfe-20aac030366d
Martins, B.
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Duarte, N.
ebe1dd81-5e55-4dc8-a0e4-f4609c13a423
Dias, J.P.
4862ffb5-7777-45d1-b088-2836d4c4e33c
Cavaleiro, A.
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Polcar, T.
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Macedo, F.
fbea945f-3a01-4940-bb99-2289a75fdc4a
Vaz, F.
ba6841e6-8ce6-4015-a24e-8538df435147
Borges, J.
c8e5c89d-68cf-454e-a7c3-4f4629f32120
Rodrigues, M.S.
8ee697c5-af21-45e7-b905-a1f76b4c0b47
Lopes, C.
75ae989a-13d8-46e4-9781-14d7dfc32045
Costa, D.
a3be0f6b-2273-42fa-a6cd-07bbd945365f
Couto, F.M.
34ac8077-0602-4802-824b-d6d7c9d9a31d
Kubart, T.
dd6b00f9-b497-47ac-9cfe-20aac030366d
Martins, B.
3fd84bd5-d34f-49bb-ab81-ba4ea65d10f7
Duarte, N.
ebe1dd81-5e55-4dc8-a0e4-f4609c13a423
Dias, J.P.
4862ffb5-7777-45d1-b088-2836d4c4e33c
Cavaleiro, A.
114e42eb-7255-47ef-834d-0546d56d3171
Polcar, T.
c669b663-3ba9-4e7b-9f97-8ef5655ac6d2
Macedo, F.
fbea945f-3a01-4940-bb99-2289a75fdc4a
Vaz, F.
ba6841e6-8ce6-4015-a24e-8538df435147

Borges, J., Rodrigues, M.S., Lopes, C., Costa, D., Couto, F.M., Kubart, T., Martins, B., Duarte, N., Dias, J.P., Cavaleiro, A., Polcar, T., Macedo, F. and Vaz, F. (2015) Thin films composed of Ag nanoclusters dispersed in TiO2: Influence of composition and thermal annealing on the microstructure and physical responses. Applied Surface Science, 1-10. (doi:10.1016/j.apsusc.2015.08.148).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Noble metal powders containing gold and silver have been used for many centuries, providing different colours in the windows of the medieval cathedrals and in ancient Roman glasses. Nowadays, the interest in nanocomposite materials containing noble nanoparticles embedded in dielectric matrices is related with their potential use for a wide range of advanced technological applications. They have been proposed for environmental and biological sensing, tailoring colour of functional coatings, or for surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy. Most of these applications rely on the so-called localised surface plasmon resonance absorption, which is governed by the type of the noble metal nanoparticles, their distribution, size and shape and as well as of the dielectric characteristics of the host matrix. The aim of this work is to study the influence of the composition and thermal annealing on the morphological and structural changes of thin films composed of Ag metal clusters embedded in a dielectric TiO2 matrix. Since changes in size, shape and distribution of the clusters are fundamental parameters for tailoring the properties of plasmonic materials, a set of films with different Ag concentrations was prepared. The optical properties and the thermal behaviour of the films were correlated with the structural and morphological changes promoted by annealing. The films were deposited by DC magnetron sputtering and in order to promote the clustering of the Ag nanoparticles the as-deposited samples were subjected to an in-air annealing protocol. It was demonstrated that the clustering of metallic Ag affects the optical response spectrum and the thermal behaviour of the films.

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Accepted/In Press date: 17 August 2015
e-pub ahead of print date: 20 August 2015
Keywords: thin films, Ag clusters dispersed in TiO2, Localised surface plasmon resonance, thermal behaviour
Organisations: nCATS Group

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 383072
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/383072
ISSN: 0169-4332
PURE UUID: 55b2bafd-5f03-408b-8eea-c86dbd49f6db
ORCID for T. Polcar: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-0863-6287

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Date deposited: 21 Oct 2015 10:55
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 03:40

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Contributors

Author: J. Borges
Author: M.S. Rodrigues
Author: C. Lopes
Author: D. Costa
Author: F.M. Couto
Author: T. Kubart
Author: B. Martins
Author: N. Duarte
Author: J.P. Dias
Author: A. Cavaleiro
Author: T. Polcar ORCID iD
Author: F. Macedo
Author: F. Vaz

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