title: Tailored vapor-phase growth of Cu(x)O-TiO2 (x = 1, 2) nanomaterials decorated with Au particles.
abstract: We report on the fabrication of Cu(x)O-TiO(2) (x = 1, 2) nanomaterials by an unprecedented vapor-phase approach. The adopted strategy involves the growth of porous Cu(x)O matrices by means of chemical vapor deposition (CVD), followed by the controlled dispersion of TiO(2) nanoparticles. The syntheses are performed on Si(100) substrates at temperatures of 400-550 °C under wet oxygen atmospheres, adopting Cu(hfa)(2)·TMEDA (hfa = 1,1,1,5,5,5-hexafluoro-2,4-pentanedionate; TMEDA = N,N,N',N'-tetramethylethylenediamine) and Ti(O-(i)Pr)(2)(dpm)(2) (O-(i)Pr = isopropoxy; dpm = 2,2,6,6-tetramethyl-3,5-heptanedionate) as copper and titanium precursors, respectively. Subsequently, finely dispersed gold nanoparticles are introduced in the as-prepared systems via radio frequency (RF)-sputtering under mild conditions. The synthesis process results in the formation of systems with chemical composition and nano-organization strongly dependent on the nature of the initial Cu(x)O matrix and on the deposited TiO(2) amount. The decoration with low-size gold clusters paves the way to the engineering of hierarchically organized nanomaterials.
authors.affiliation: CNR-ISTM and INSTM, Department of Chemistry, University of Padova, Via Marzolo, 1, 35131 Padova, Italy. davide.barreca@unipd.it
authors.forename: Davide
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Barreca
authors.forename: Giorgio
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Carraro
authors.forename: Alberto
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gasparotto
authors.forename: Chiara
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Maccato
authors.forename: Oleg I
authors.initials: OI
authors.lastname: Lebedev
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Parfenova
authors.forename: Stuart
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Turner
authors.forename: Eugenio
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Tondello
authors.forename: Gustaaf
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Van Tendeloo