Papers by Author: Vicente Rodríguez-González

Abstract: Indium-alkali microfibers doped ceramic were prepared by the sol-gel process. The gels preparation samples, were heat treated at 700°C for different length of time. The products were characterized by means of XRD, SEM-EDS and UV–Vis-DRS. The XRD showed the formation of the Na2Ti6O13 phase whose crystallinity depends on the annealing time. The band gap calculated from the UV–Vis Kubelka-Munk function shows very similar values (3.53-3.55 eV). The SEM images of the indium-alkali titanates show microfiber clumps morphologies of about 5 µm, and the EDS spectra show that In2O3 is on the Na2Ti6O13 surface. The results of the evaluation of the In-Na2Ti6O13 semiconductors in the 2, 4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2, 4-D) photodecomposition under UV light irradiation, show that the photoactivity depends on the time of heat treatment of the samples.

Abstract: We report the findings concerning the preparation and characterization of Au nanoparticles deposited on sol-gel derived TiO2, TiO2-Al2O3 and TiO2-In2O3 semiconductors. The gold nanoparticles were obtained by the deposition-precipitation method using urea. The mean particle size was determined by HAADF-STEM. The gold nanoparticles ranged form 2.4 to 4.4 nm, and the smallest corresponding to the TiO2-Al2O3 support was 2.4 nm. The effect of support on the growth of the gold nanoparticles was analyzed by HRTEM. The gold nanoparticles showed different shapes depending on the semiconductor supports. Truncated cuboctahedral gold nanoparticles were identified and analyzed.