Au nanoparticles (NPs) decorated heterogeneous TiO 2 catalysts are known to be effective in the degradation of various organic pollutants. The photocatalytic performance of such Au-TiO 2 structures remarkably depends on size, morphology and surface coverage of Au NPs decorating

A highly photocatalytic Ag/TiO 2 thin film is prepared by the photocatalytic deposition of Ag nanoparticles (NPs) on reactive sputtered columnar TiO 2 structures. By altering the ultra-violet (UV) exposure time, the authors control the morphology and surface coverage of deposited Ag NPs. While a surface coverage of 1-4% (by Ag NPs) leads to a significant increase in the photocatalytic activity, depositing more Ag NPs yield a decrease in the photocatalytic performance (lower than that of bare TiO 2 ). This may arise due to the blocking of UV light incoming to the TiO 2 by the formation continuous network of Ag clusters on the surface. Such highly interconnected Ag clusters might also trigger the recombination of electron-hole pairs. After five consecutive photocatalysis tests, the Ag (1 min)/TiO 2 thin film remains intact.

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