Novel Gold Dendritic Nanoforests Combined with Titanium Nitride for Visible-Light-Enhanced Chemical Degradation

In this study, gold dendritic nanoforests (Au DNFs)-titanium nitride (TiN) composite was firstly proposed for visible-light photodegradation of pollutants. A high-power impulse magnetron sputtering system was used to coat TiN films on silicon wafers, and a fluoride-assisted galvanic replacement reaction was applied to deposit Au DNFs on TiN/Si substrates. Scanning electron microscope images and X-ray diffraction patterns of TiN/Si, Au DNFs/Si, and Au DNFs/TiN/Si samples verified that this synthesis process was accurately controlled. The average reflectance of Au DNFs/Si and Au DNFs/TiN/Si considerably declined to approximately 10%, because the broadband localized surface plasmon resonances of Au DNFs cause broadband absorbance and low reflectance. In photocatalytic performance, 90.66 ± 1.41% 4-nitrophenol was successfully degraded in 180 min by Au DNFs/TiN/Si under visible-light irradiation. Therefore, Au DNFs/TiN/Si has the chance to be a visible-light photocatalyst for photodegradation of pollutants.