Deposition of gold nanoparticles from colloid on TiO₂ surface

In this paper, experimental results are presented on the deposition of colloidal gold nanoparticles on the surfaces of TiO₂ prepared on silicon/silicon dioxide. Important procedures, such as titanium dioxide surface hydrophilization as well as functionalization by an organosilane coupling agent (3-aminopropyl) trimethoxysilane and (3-mercaptopropyl) trimethoxysilane were investigated in order to obtain a metal oxide surface with the most convenient properties for immobilization of gold nanoparticles having a dense and uniform distribution. TiO₂ nanotips prepared by reactive ion etching of oxide surface covered with self-mask gold nanoparticles are demonstrated.