Surfaces and Interfaces 31 (2022) 102090

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Surfaces and Interfaces

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Plasmon assisted high ultraviolet to visible broad band photosensitivity in

lateral Ag NPs-TiO2 nanocomposite film
Sulakshana Mondal , Durga Basak *
School of Physical Sciences, Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science, Jadavpur, Kolkata 700032, India

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Noble metal-TiO2 composite films attract great attention because of the extension of its spectral absorption in the
TiO2 visible range due to surface plasmon resonance. Among them, Ag-TiO2 composite is considered to be an ideal
Surface plasmon resonance candidate for the visible light photosensitivity because of narrow energy distribution of plasmonic hot electrons
Photosensitivity
in Ag and the high density of states in the TiO2 conduction band. Here, we report high broad band photosen­
Ag nanoparticles
Hot electrons
sitivity from ultraviolet (UV) to visible wavelength of sol-gel grown TiO2 film decorated with Ag nanoparticles
(NPs) in a simple planar photoconductive geometry. In addition to UV light, Ag NPs-TiO2 composite film (for 1
nm Ag) shows very high photosensitivity values of ~105 and ~104 and responsivity values of 0.1 A/W and
7×10− 3 A/W at 10 V bias for 680 nm and 550 nm illuminations respectively while pristine TiO2 show photo­
sensitivity values of 6×102 and 3.3×102 and responsivity values of 2.4×10− 4 A/W and 6.6×10− 5 A/W for both
the visible illuminations. A highly enhanced broad band photosensitivity due to transfer of plasmonically
generated hot electrons from Ag to TiO2 is quite interesting without having any device fabricated. The photo­
sensitivity values for Ag NPs for 3 nm and 6 nm layer thicknesses on TiO2 decrease because of coalescence of
metal NPs on surface which acts as scattering center and/or light shielding.

1. Introduction
Over past decades, TiO2 has received potential research interest for
the fabrication of short wavelength optoelectronic devices such as light
emitting diodes, laser diodes, photodetectors and photovoltaic cells
because of its wide band gap at room temperature, nontoxicity, long-
term chemical stability and large exciton binding energy [1–8]. But
unfortunately, the electronic band gaps of 3.0 − 3.4 eV bound their op­
tical absorption as well as overall efficiency in the ultraviolet (UV) re­
gion of the solar spectrum which consists 4% UV, 43% visible and 53%
infrared and limits its large-scale industrial applications as broad-band
photodetectors [9–12]. One of the potential solutions is to extend the
absorption of TiO2 into the visible region. Various strategies are made to
get visible light active TiO2 by doping with transition metal and
nonmetal elements into the TiO2 lattice [13–19], dye photosensitization
[20–23] and deposition of noble metals [24–27] on the TiO2 surfaces.
Among these, noble metals (Au, Ag, Pt, Pd) modified TiO2 has received
great attention due to their unique optical properties and their potential
applications in optical devices, chemical and biological sensors and
surface-enhanced spectroscopies (SES) [28–32]. These noble metals (Au,
Ag, Pt, Pd) exhibit anomalous optical properties due to interaction be­
tween the free electrons of the metal nanoparticles (NPs) with the
photon of the incident polarized light which results in collective oscil­
lations. It leads to strong enhancement of the local electromagnetic field
surrounding NPs which is called localized surface plasmon resonance
(LSPR) [33–35]. The coupling of the electric fields of the incident ra­
diation (visible range) with the plasmon fields of the metal NPs results
its visible absorption. For this reason, nanocomposites of plasmonic
NPs-semiconducting oxide films have aroused great interest due to their
wide range of applications in environment remediation, gas sensors,
solar cells, energy storage devices and various industrial areas [36–38].
Moreover, noble metal NPs possess electron storage properties which
improve electron-hole separation in a metal-semiconductor composite
system [35, 39-40]. More importantly, the optical properties of these
plasmonic NPs are tunable across the entire visible spectrum by varying
their size and shape [41, 42]. The resonance wavelength strongly de­
pends on the size, shape, interparticle distance of the NPs and the
dielectric property of the surrounding medium [43, 44]. Anatase TiO2 is
more photoactive and thermally stable due to its electronic band
structure which leads to retard the carrier recombination [45–47].

* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: sspdb@iacs.res.in (D. Basak).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.surfin.2022.102090
Received 5 January 2022; Received in revised form 10 May 2022; Accepted 31 May 2022
Available online 1 June 2022
2468-0230/© 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
S. Mondal and D. Basak
Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of sample preparation.
Therefore, it is hugely exploited for UV photocatalysis [48–51]. Further,
an incorporation of noble metal in anatase TiO2 extends its absorption to
the visible range showing visible photoactivity which makes TiO2 highly
demandable in the current field of research [50, 52-55]. Among all the
noble metals, Ag being an appropriate candidate for its low cost and easy
synthesis [56], when integrated with nanostructured TiO2, the physical
and chemical properties of the composite system are modified and
enhanced. There are many reports on the study of plasmonic absorption
of Ag-TiO2 in the visible wavelength range and their huge applications
in photocatalysis, photoelectrochemical cell, anti-bacterial application,
sensor and dye sensitized solar cell [57–61]. For example, Ag-TiO2
composite exhibits better performance in charge extraction as electron
transporting layer than pure TiO2 which finally enhances the efficiency
of a photovoltaic device as reported by Lu et al. [62] A photocurrent (Iph)
enhancement in a plasmonic Ag NPs-TiO2 based solar cell with a
significantly higher incident-photon-to-current-efficiency as compared
to pristine TiO2 across the visible spectrum has been observed [63]. Ag
NPs-TiO2 composite film as a photoanode results in a noticeably
improved short circuit current in a photoelectrochemical cell which is
attributed to an enhanced light absorption and broadening of spectral
absorption range due to the SPR of the Ag NPs [64]. Very few reports on
the study of photoresponse properties of Ag-TiO2 film have been found
to the best of our knowledge. Ag patterned TiO2 thin film photodetector
shows ~1.8 fold enlarged photosensitivity in the visible wavelength
region due to SPR [65]. The photoresponse of Ag layer on TiO2 films
shows an enhancement in the visible region as the mass-equivalent
Ag-island thickness is increased to 3.3 nm in the fabrication of dye
sensitized solar cell due to plasmonic effect [66]. However, a systematic
study on the evolution of spectral photoresponse owing to loading of Ag
NPs on TiO2 has not been reported yet which is essential to exploit this
hybrid nanocomposite for broad band photodetector application. In an
earlier report [67], we have revealed that simple sol-gel TiO2 film shows
an extraordinarily high UV photoresponse. In order to have broad band
photodetection properties from this sol-gel TiO2 film, we have deposited
Ag NPs on TiO2 film in this work. We here claim almost five (5) and four
(4) orders of magnitude in the photo-to-dark current ratio (Iph/Id,
photosensitivity) for Ag NPs-TiO2 films under the visible light illumi­
nations due to the SPR effect. In all the earlier discussed reports, Ag-TiO2
has been used in a device such as solar cell or photo detector fabricated
with a top-bottom architecture and a high vacuum synthesis procedure
is adopted which makes the whole process expensive and complex.
2
Surfaces and Interfaces 31 (2022) 102090
While, in this work, uniquely very simple and inexpensive Ag NPs-TiO2
composite film has been utilized wherein Iph has been measured in a
simple lateral photoconductive geometry which gives very high photo­
sensitivity values for UV to visible wavelength lights.
2. Experimental
TiO2 films were grown on ordinary glass substrates by using sol-gel
technique. First the glass substrates were ultrasonically cleaned and
then TiO2 sol was spin coated on it. TiO2 sol was prepared using titanium
isopropoxide, 2-methoxyethanol, acetic acid and water as reported
previously [68]. Each coating was dried at 120 ◦ C for 10 minutes and
then annealed at 500 ◦ C for 20 minutes to obtain crystalline films. This
process was repeated for several times to achieve a desired film thick­
ness. After 20th coating, the TiO2 films were cured with UV light (365
nm, 1.2 mW) for 2 hours and the sample is named as S1. To obtain
Ag-TiO2 nanocomposite films, various layer thicknesses of Ag NPs were
deposited on pristine TiO2 films by evaporating metallic Ag in a vacuum
coating system under exactly similar conditions and pressure. The
deposition of Ag NPs was carried out very carefully by a vacuum coating
unit (HINDHIVAC; model-12A4D) fitted with a thickness monitor. The
thickness of the Ag layer was varied as 1, 3 and 6 nm and the samples
were named as S2, S3 and S4. Investigations on the crystalline phase
purity and morphology were carried by X-ray diffractometry (XRD;
model- X’pert pro, PANalytical) and field emission scanning electron
microscopy (FESEM; model- JEOL, JSM-7500F) respectively. Optical
transmission and absorption measurements of the samples were done by
UV− vis spectrophotometry (PerkinElmer; model- Lamda 35). The
elemental analysis was done by X-ray photoemission spectroscopy (XPS;
model- Omicron, Serial no. 0571). For photoconductivity measure­
ments, two circular Al contacts of 40 nm thickness were vacuum
deposited on all the samples via thermal evaporation using patterned
shadow masks with a 2 mm diameter at a 2 mm separation in a planar
geometry. The schematic of TiO2 film deposition, formation of Ag
NPs-TiO2 nanocomposite film and the Al top contacts is shown in Fig. 1.
All the samples were kept in the dark for several hours to reach an
equilibrium before photoresponse measurements. The current was
measured using Keithley picoammeter (model- 2410) and a sourcemeter
(model- 2400) when the sample was kept in the dark as well as under
illumination. As an illumination source, a Xe lamp (Newport; model
66902) fitted with a monochromator (Newport; model- 74125) was
S. Mondal and D. Basak
Fig. 2. (a) XRD patterns of all the samples. The inset shows XRD pattern of pristine Ag NPs’ film. FESEM images of the samples (b) S1, (d) S2, (e) S3 and (f) S4. The
EDX spectra of the samples (c) S1, (g) S2, (h) S3 and (i) S4. The inset shows the atomic percentage of the elemental components of the samples.
used. The power density of each illumination falling on the sample was
measured by a power meter (Newport; model- 1930C). All the mea­
surements were done in room temperature. To achieve meaningful
comparison, the photoconductivity measurements were performed
under the exactly identical experimental conditions.
3. Results and discussions
The XRD patterns of the pristine TiO2 and Ag NPs-TiO2 films in Fig. 2
(a) show diffraction peaks at 2θ = 25.3◦ , 37.8◦ , 48.0◦ and 53.9◦ which
correspond to (101), (004), (200) and (105) diffraction peaks for the
anatase phase of TiO2 (JCPDS file: PDF#211272). A very weak peak at
2θ = 30.9◦ is observed for Ag NPs-TiO2 films which is assigned to (121)
peak of brookite phase of TiO2 (JCPDS file: PDF#291360). However, the
XRD patterns show neither any change in the peak positions of TiO2.
This is quite expected since deposition of Ag NPs on the top of the well-
crystallized TiO2 should not have influence on the crystallographic
structure of TiO2. The diffraction patterns of S2, S3 and S4 do not show
any peak due to Ag because a thin layer of Ag NPs is insufficient to
3
Surfaces and Interfaces 31 (2022) 102090
produce any XRD signal. The inset shows the XRD pattern of a thicker Ag
NPs’ film (8 nm) deposited using the same thermal evaporation system
with similar deposition parameters which indicates that the deposited
Ag NPs on TiO2 is expected to be phase pure.
The FESEM images of all the samples are shown in the Fig. 2(b), (d),
(e) and (f). It shows that the pristine sample S1 comprises of a very
smooth, continuous surface of TiO2 grains. Fig. 2(d), (e) and (f) show
clearly the Ag NPs deposited on the TiO2 grains. Ag NPs tend to grow as
islands on the TiO2 surface. With an increase in the thickness of Ag, the
sizes of the Ag islands increase with irregular shapes. For S2 and S3, the
average sizes of the Ag NPs are 13 and 33 nm respectively as statistically
estimated from the FESEM images. For S4 sample, the coalescence be­
tween the Ag NPs happen to give more irregular shaped islands with
larger dimensions. The elemental analyses carried out by the Energy
Dispersive X-Ray spectroscopy (EDX) attached to the FESEM instrument
show the peaks of Ti and O for the pristine TiO2 and additional Ag peaks
for the composite films as shown in Fig. 2(c), (g), (h) and (i) confirming
the presence of Ti, O and Ag in the respective samples. Further, it is clear
from the EDX elemental data as shown in the insets in the figures that the
S. Mondal and D. Basak Surfaces and Interfaces 31 (2022) 102090

Fig. 3. (a) Optical transmission spectra of all the samples. (b) UV-visible absorption spectra of all the samples. Inset shows the enlarged view of spectra within the
range of 400 to 800 nm. (c) Absorbance spectra of pristine Ag NPs films of different thickness on glass substrate.

Fig. 4. XPS spectra of (a) Ti 2p3/2 (b) O 1s (c) Ag 3d peaks of S2

presence of Ag content increases from 0.12 at% to 0.55 at% with an
increase in the Ag thickness from 1 nm to 6 nm.
In Fig. 3(a), the optical transmission spectra for all the samples show
that the pristine TiO2 film is highly transparent in the 1100-500 nm
region with an average transparency of ~80%. The transparency of the
Ag NPs-TiO2 nanocomposite films is decreased in the visible region with
an increase in the Ag thickness. In the visible region, the undulations
(wavelike pattern) are due to mutual interference that occurs between
the light reflected from the front surface and back surface of the TiO2
film. All the films show a strong and sharp rise in the absorption value
below 400 nm due to typical band edge absorption of TiO2 (Fig. 3(b))
and thus the transmittance value sharply drops below 400 nm for all the
films. Pristine TiO2 absorbs only UV photons and therefore, no absorp­
tion peak is observed in visible region for S1. The Ag NPs-TiO2 com­
posite films exhibit broad and enhanced absorption also in the visible
wavelength region which is attributed to SPR between the Ag NPs and
the incident photon [69]. As observed in Fig. 3(b), the visible absor­
bance of the films increases with an increase in the Ag thickness and the
absorption hump shifts to the longer wavelength, which is similar to the
results reported earlier [70, 71]. As the thickness of Ag increases, the
particle size increases and the absorption peak undergoes a red shift due
to the fact that distance between the Ag NPs is decreased, resulting in
collective coupled oscillation of the surface plasmons at longer wave­
length. To further confirm the position of the SPR peaks for Ag NPs-TiO2
nanocomposite films with various Ag thicknesses, pristine Ag NPs films
were deposited on glass substrates under exactly similar evaporation
conditions and the absorption spectra of these pristine Ag NPs films are
also recorded in Fig. 3(c). It shows a gradual shift in the absorbance
maxima towards the higher wavelength side with an increase in the Ag
thickness. By comparing the absorption spectra of S2, S3 and S4 with
those of the pristine Ag NPs films, the presence of hump in the visible
spectra in Ag NPs-TiO2 composite films can easily be assigned to the
plasmonic Ag NPs.
For the further confirmation of the composition and valence states of
the elements, XPS is done for a representative sample, S2. Fig. 4(a)
shows the Ti 2p3/2 peak which is deconvoluted and fitted into two peaks

4
S. Mondal and D. Basak Surfaces and Interfaces 31 (2022) 102090

Fig. 5. (a) Dark I-V of all the samples. (b) Photocurrent spectra at 10 V bias for all the samples. (c) Spectral responsivity and (d) specific detectivity of all the samples
at 10 V bias.

located at 457.5 eV and 458.2 eV. The lower binding energy peak is
attributed to the presence of Ti3+ and the higher is for Ti4+ [72]. From
this figure it is evident that the amount of Ti3+ in the sample is very low
which indicates better stoichiometry of TiO2. Similarly, for deconvo­
luted O1s peak (Fig. 4 (b)), the component located at a binding energy of
530.1 eV belongs to the lattice oxygen i.e., Ti–O–Ti bonds and another
peak at 531.1 eV can be assigned to weakly adsorbed oxygen species,
subsurface low-coordinated oxygen ions, surface hydroxyl groups [73].
In Fig. 4(c), peaks at binding energy 368.1 eV and 374.1 eV correspond
to the 3d5/2 and 3d3/2 of metallic Ag [74]. As shown in the figure, there
are two small humps at about 4 eV energy difference corresponding to
the photoelectron peaks which is a characteristic property of plasmonic
metal Ag [75, 76].
The dark I− V curves of all the samples plotted in Fig. 5(a) show
linear behavior on both sides of the zero bias voltage indicating Ohmic
nature of the contacts. The dark current (Id) values are 3.3×10− 12A,
4.7×10− 12A, 5.5×10− 12A and 8.3×10− 12A for S1, S2, S3 and S4
respectively at 10 V bias. As seen, theId value slightly increases with an
increase in the Ag loading. Formation of metal-semiconductor junctions
leads to an electron transfer from TiO2 to Ag. This leads to an increase in
theId value of Ag NPs-TiO2 composite films as compared to the pristine
TiO2 film [77]. The photoresponse spectra in the range 300-800 nm
under 10 V bias condition for S1, S2, S3 and S4 are shown in the Fig. 5
(b). It reveals a sharp peak below 400 nm and broad hump in the
wavelength of 450− 750 nm. Though the nature of the hump is different
for S1 as compared to S2, S3 and S4. For S1, high response in the UV
region and a low photoresponse in the visible wavelength region is due
to band-to-band photocarrier generation and de-trapping of the carriers
from the sub-band gap defects to the conduction band of TiO2 respec­
tively [67]. As soon as Ag NPs are loaded on TiO2 film, a significant
enhancement of Iph value is observed in the visible region for S2 and
then decrease for S3 and S4. Due to the presence of plasmonic Ag NPs,
Iph increases in the visible region as stated earlier. Decrease in the Iph in
S3 and S4 can be explained by considering Ag NPs size. The size of Ag
NPs plays a crucial role in dominating the light extinction behavior (e.g.,
the sum of light absorption and scattering). For a particle size < 30 nm,
absorption is more dominant than scattering and as the particle size
increases, scattering becomes more prevalent [42]. For S3 and S4, as Ag
particle size is larger than 30 nm, scattering in the visible radiation
instead of absorption prevails. Therefore, less surface plasmon effect is
found which leads to generation of few numbers of hot carriers [78].
The wavelength-dependent responsivity (R) and specific detectivity
(D) have been calculated using the standard formulas:
Iph
R= (1)
PxA
R
D = √̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅ (2)
2qJd

Table 1
Dark current, photo current and photo-to-dark current ratio under 350, 680, 550 and 450 nm for all the samples.
Sample Id (A) I350 (A) I350/Id I680 (A) I680/Id I550 (A) I550/Id I450 (A) I450/Id
12 5
S1 3.3×10− 5.7×10− 1.7×107 2×10− 9 606 1.1×10− 9
3.3×102 9.8×10− 10 2.97×103
12 5
S2 4.7×10− 6.8×10− 1.4×107 3.8×10− 7
8.1×104 4.5×10− 8
9.6×103 4.22×10− 9 8.98×102
12 5
S3 5.5×10− 1.8×10− 3.2×106 1.7×10− 8
3.1×104 1.4×10− 9
2.5×102 5.7×10− 10 103.6
12 6
S4 8.3×10− 8.2×10− 9.8×105 3.1×10− 9
373 7.2×10− 10
8.67 5.2×10− 10 62.6

5
S. Mondal and D. Basak
Fig. 6. Transient photoresponse of all the samples under (a) 350 nm, (b) 680 nm, (c) 550 nm and (d) 450 nm light illumination at 10 V bias.
where, P is the power density of illumination, A is the effective area of
the detector, q is the charge of an electron and Jd is the dark current
density of the sample [79]. Wavelength-dependent responsivity curves
in Fig. 5(c) shows that for S2 and S3, the R values in the visible region
are quite higher than that of the pristine TiO2 and decreases for the
sample S4. The maximum value of R obtained for the sample S2 is 0.1
A/W at 680 nm and 7×10− 3 A/W at 550 nm. It gives a value of D as
1.3×1013 Jones at 680 nm and 9.7×1011 Jones at 550 nm which are
quite high for a simple lateral geometry photoconductor.
Detailed investigation on the photoresponse properties of the sam­
ples has been carried out by recording the transient photoresponse
curves under the illumination of four reference wavelengths: 350, 450,
550, and 680 nm for a duration of 12 minutes (Fig. 5(a), (b), (c) and (d))
at 10 V bias. The values of Id, Iph and Iph/ Id of all the samples under UV
and all visible wavelengths have been extracted from the curves and
noted in Table 1.
In Fig. 6(a), under UV (350 nm) irradiation, very high Iph is observed
in pristine TiO2 film which gives very high Iph/Id i.e photosensitivity
value of ~107. It is due to generation of e-h pair due to band gap ab­
sorption reported earlier [67]. For sample S2, theIph value slightly in­
creases but the overall Iph/Id decreases as the Id of S2 is slightly higher as
compared to the pristine sample. For S3 and S4, the Iph also decreases
which leads to a lower UV photosensitivity value. The probable cause
may be due to some UV light shielding by the higher Ag NPs on the TiO2
surface. Under 680 nm irradiation, S1 shows a photoresponse with a
photosensitivity value of only ~102 while S2 shows a very high photo­
sensitivity value of 8.1×104. However, since the Iph decreases for S3 and
S4, these show sensitivity values of 3.1×104 and 373 respectively. Under
550 nm illumination, the photosensitivity for S1 is the order of ~102
while for S2, the value is 9.6×103. Again, the photosensitivity value
decreases for S3 and S4. All the samples S1, S2 and S3 show almost
similar photoresponse (Iph/Id~102) under 450 nm irradiation while for
6
Surfaces and Interfaces 31 (2022) 102090
S4 it is 63.
It is known that TiO2 has a very rich defect chemistry and these
defect states directly influence its photoresponse property [80, 81]. Ti3+
defect state as identified from the XPS study is the most prominent defect
situated below the conduction band minima causing visible photo­
response for the pristine TiO2 due to an efficient electron transfer
through the defect sites as reported by Mahapatra et al. [82]. The Iph
value under illumination of 680 nm light reaches to the highest level due
to an additive effect from the TiO2 as well as from the Ag NPs. In case of
the pristine TiO2, the phororesponse towards visible lights such as 680
nm light is not significant as compared to its UV photoresponse (Fig. 6
(b)). However, in case of the nanocomposite films, in addition to an
enhanced sensitivity towards 550 nm due to plasmonic Ag NPs, the
additive sensitivity towards 680 nm is also enhanced and becomes sig­
nificant as compared to the UV one.
In order to understand the reason behind an enhanced visible pho­
toresponse in Ag NPs-TiO2 composite films, it is important to know the
junction formation between Ag and TiO2. When Ag metal comes in
contact with n-type TiO2, electrons begin to flow from the oxide to the
metal as the Ag work function (~ 6 eV) is higher than the work function
of TiO2 (~ 4.3 eV) which results in Schottky potential barriers (φSB) at
metal-semiconductor junction [83]. When visible light shines on Ag
NPs-TiO2 surface, the Ag NPs on TiO2 surface absorbs the visible photon
which drives coherent collection of oscillation i.e., LSPR occurs. The
excited plasmons decay nonradiatively via transferring the gathered
energy to electrons in Ag which produce highly energetic ‘hot electrons’.
Usually, these hot electrons can escape easily from the Ag surface.
Therefore, a number of hot electrons move to conduction band of TiO2
from Ag NPs. Under some bias voltage, these excess number of electrons
in TiO2 begins to flow through the circuit giving rise to an enhanced
value of visible Iph of composite films. Our result is at par with the report
on Ag-TiO2 by Paul et al. [84]. The band alignment between Ag and TiO2
S. Mondal and D. Basak Surfaces and Interfaces 31 (2022) 102090

Fig. 7. (a) Band alignment of Ag and TiO2 junction and (b) Schematic diagram for hot electron transfer from Ag to TiO2.

Fig. 8. Periodic growth-decay cycles of all the samples under (a) 350 nm, (b) 680 nm and (c) 550 nm wavelength light irradiation.

and the hot electrons transfer from Ag to TiO2 are shown schematically with the value of the earlier transient cycle indicating stable photosen­
in Fig. 7(a) and (b) respectively. sitivity of the samples.
The photocurrent periodic growth and decay cycles of all the samples
under periodic (2 minutes) illumination of three reference wavelengths Conclusions
(350, 680 and 550 nm) at a fixed bias condition were also measured and
they are shown in Fig. 8. The highest Iph value remains almost similar In summary, plasmon assisted broad band UV to visible

7
S. Mondal and D. Basak
photoresponse property of Ag NPs-TiO2 nanocomposite films have been
demonstrated wherein Ag NPs on TiO2 film for a layer thickness of 1 nm
shows almost 7, 5 and 4 orders of photosensitivity under 350 nm, 680
nm and 550 nm light illuminations in a simple planar photoconducting
geometry which is quite interesting. The plasmonic hot carriers play a
crucial role in the highly enhanced visible photosensitivity property of
Ag NPs-TiO2 nanocomposite film which deeply depends on the Ag NP
size. Our present work shows that a Ag NPs-TiO2 nanocomposite film in
simple photconducting mode can be a promising candidate for a UV to
visible broad band photodetection.
CRediT authorship contribution statement
Sulakshana Mondal: Methodology, Formal analysis, Writing –
original draft, Investigation. Durga Basak: Supervision, Conceptuali­
zation, Writing – review & editing.
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest regarding the
publication of this article.
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