Transparent photocatalytic TiO₂ thin films hold great potential in the development of self-cleaning glass surfaces, but suffer from a poor visible light response that hinders the application under actual sunlight. To alleviate this problem, the photocatalytic film can be modified with plasmonic nanoparticles that interact very effectively with visible light. Since the plasmonic effect is strongly concentrated in the near surroundings of the nanoparticle surface, an approach is presented to embed the plasmonic nanostructures in the TiO₂ matrix itself, rather than deposit them loosely on the surface. This way the interaction interface is maximised and the plasmonic effect can be fully exploited. In this study, pre-fabricated gold nanoparticles are made compatible with the organic medium of a TiO₂ sol-gel coating suspension, resulting in a one-pot coating suspension. After spin coating, homogeneous, smooth, highly transparent and photoactive gold-embedded anatase thin films are obtained.

透明的光催化TiO ₂薄膜在自清洁玻璃表面的发展中具有巨大潜力，但可见光响应较差，阻碍了其在实际日光下的应用。为了减轻该问题，可以用与可见光非常有效地相互作用的等离子体纳米颗粒来修饰光催化膜。由于等离子体效应强烈地集中在纳米颗粒表面的附近，因此提出了一种将等离子体纳米结构嵌入TiO _{2中的方法。}基质本身，而不是将它们散落地沉积在表面上。这样，相互作用的界面被最大化，等离子体效应可以被充分利用。在这项研究中，使预制的金纳米颗粒与TiO ₂溶胶-凝胶涂料悬浮液的有机介质相容，从而形成一锅式涂料悬浮液。旋涂后，获得均匀，光滑，高度透明和光敏金嵌入的锐钛矿薄膜。