Substrate modification influence on properties of nanocomposite based on TiO2 and gold nanoparticles

Abstract

In this work, we study photo-induced current transfer through nanocomposite structures consisting of the TiO2 coating activated with plasmonic gold nanoparticles on top of pillar-like structured SiO2. It is shown that the photo-response of the nanocomposite can be adjusted via tuning of the heterostructure topology. Processes at the interface between silicon and noble metal nanoparticle play an important role in charge carrier photo-generation. The high photo-activity in visible part of spectrum has been found in the composite, containing pillar-like silicon dioxide nanostructures [1]. The electron transport via the SiO2 layer from the potential well at the TiO2-SiO2 interface to the n-Si conduction band was explained by electron tunneling mechanism. We present the empirical qualitative model which explains experimental results and helps to separate the contributions of different transport mechanisms.