Titania-supported Au-Ag Core-Shell Bimetallic Catalysts of Different Shapes for Photocatalytic Degradation

under Visible Light

Anila Monga and Bonamali Pal
School of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Thapar University, Patiala 147004, Punjab, India
Tel: 91-175-239-3491, Fax: 91-175-2364498
E-mail: anila_monga@yahoo.com

Bimetallic alloys and core-shell nanocomposites composed of two different metal nanoparticles have a
potential to exhibit superior physicochemical, optical and catalytic properties than that of their
respective monometallic counterparts owing to strong synergy between the metals, tunable
composition, size, shape and atomic distribution. The factors like the alloy bond strength that favors the
intimate mixing or segregation of the two metals, the surface energy of metals, charge transfer,
electronic or ligand effect and atomic re-hybridization between two metals are responsible for
additional impact of bimetallics. Various transition metals i.e., Fe, Mo, Co, Ni, Zn and Pt/C are
enormously explored in homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysis from a long decade. But, coinage
metals (Au, Ag and Cu) metals are found to be of special interest due to their facile synthesis,
characteristic surface Plasmon band (SPR), surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS), compatible
work functions and exposed facets for selective chemical/catalysis reactions. Moreover, TiO2 loaded
with bimetallic co-catalyst possess the ability to absorb visible light in a wide wavelength range than
those of the corresponding metallic particles, and therefore, could reveal high photoactivity. Therefore,
the effect of Aucore-Agshell (Au@Ag) and reverse Agcore-Aushell (Ag@Au) of different shapes
(nanospheres and nanorods) deposited on Degussa P25-TiO2 (Au@Ag-TiO2, Ag@Au-TiO2, etc.) was
studied for the photocatalytic degradation of salicylic acid (SA) under visible light in comparison to
their respective monometallic counterparts and bare Degussa P25-TiO2. It was found that the bimetallic
core-shell nanocomposites deposited on TiO2 exhibited enhanced photocatalytic activity by ~5 times
than that of the monometallic Au and Ag nanoparticles due to decreased work function of resulting
bimetallic nanostructures. This promotes the efficient electron transfer from bimetallic composites to
TiO2 and subsequently showed improved reactivity towards the photo-degradation of SA.