Chromogenic behaviours of silver containing mesoporous titania films

摘要

We investigate the effects of three reduction processes on the formation of silver nanoparticles in mesoporous titania films. The later are impregnated with silver salt and then either exposed to UV laser light, chemically treated or annealed. Depending on the reduction process, the NP are confined inside the mesopores or not, leading to different NP size distributions and to various film colors. These TiO_2/Ag nanocomposite films also exhibit different photochromic behaviours when exposed to visible laser radiations. We characterize and interpret the color changes as well as the NP deformation and oxidation under visible illuminations.