[15a-F202-1~13] 3.12 Nanoscale optical science and near-field optics

▲ [15a-F202-2] Indium nanoparticles for enhanced UV Photocatalysis

〇(M2C)Irena Devi Rajkumari¹, Mitsuhiro Honda¹, Yo Ichikawa¹ (1.Nagoya Institute of Technology)

Keywords:Plasmonics, Photocatalysis, Indium nanoparticles

Indium nanostrucrtures show a plasmonic property in UV range. The surface plasmon resonance wavelength becomes promptly tailored by simply varying the deposition thickness of the indium nanoparticles using vacuum evaporation method. We prepared titanium dioxide (TiO₂) thin film on a quartz substrate by spin-coating TiO₂ nanocrystals (7000 rpm for 60 seconds). Later, we fabricated indium nanoparticles on TiO₂ thin film using thermal vacuum evaporation method with monitoring the deposition thickness by quartz crystal microbalance (QCM). Methylene blue (MB) is applied onto TiO₂ thin film with and without Indium nanoparticles, and the photocatalytic properties were observed by absorption spectroscopy through UV (deuterium lamp) light illumination. We found that UV photocatalysis was enhanced with Indium (In) nanostructures. An increment in a reaction rate was observed. The reaction rate was found to be dependent on the size of In nanoparticles.