Au-TiO(2) nanoscale heterodimers synthesis from an ambient spark discharge for efficient photocatalytic and photothermal activity.

Ultrafine Au particles incorporating TiO2 heterodimers were synthesized using an ambient heterogeneous spark discharge and the resultant materials were employed both in oxidizing photocatalytically CO gas and killing photothermally cancerous cells. Ti-Au spark configuration was employed to vaporize Ti and Au components into an airflow and finally ultrafine Au particles (∼2 nm in lateral dimension) were incorporated with TiO2 nanoparticles in the form of Au-TiO2 heterodimers (∼38 nm in lateral dimension) with enhanced photocatalytic (in CO oxidation) and photothermal activity (in cancerous cell killing) under visible light. We propose that the localized surface plasmon resonance of ultrafine Au particles on TiO2 supports, induced by the visible light, would promote the adsorption-oxidation of CO and photothermal killing of HeLa cells. The present strategy may be suitable to fabricate other Au-metal oxide nanocomposites for catalytic and biomedical applications.