(The) schottky behavior of gold nanoparticles on $TiO_2$

Abstract

One of photocatalysts, gold nanoparticles on $TiO_2$, have been investigated using conductive atomic force microscopy (C-AFM) at ambient condition. The gold nanoparticles on $TiO_2$ were analyzed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and C-AFM. To understand the Schottky behavior of the sample, electrical properties were measured as I-V curves and fitted on the thermionic equation. The main result is that Schottky barrier height increases with increasing of the size of the gold NPs. Which could be used for designing photocatalysts in the view of plasmon-excited hot electrons which can enhance the activity of HER with decrease of the Schottky barrier height.