Gold and graphific carbon nitride hybrid plasmonic nanocomposites for photocatalytic reduction of 4-nitrophenol and 4-nitrobenzenethiol

• Published in: Japanese Journal of Applied Physics 2016-09, Vol.55 (9), p.95001
• Main Authors: Yan, Jiao, Xiao, Yuli, Liang, Xiu, Yang, Nan, Zhao, Dongyu, Yin, Penggang
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0021-4922; 1347-4065
• DOI: 10.7567/JJAP.55.095001

Gold nanoparticles (GNPs) were deposited on the surface of graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) via an in situ reduction method using either sodium borohydride or trisodium citrate as the reducing agent. The corresponding hybrid Au/C3N4 nanocatalysts, viz., Au@CN-B or Au@CN-C, exhibited high light-driven catalytic activities toward reduction of 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) under either visible-light or ultra violet (UV) irradiation. The photocatalytic efficiency of Au@CN-B was only slightly higher than that of Au@CN-C, most likely owing to the average grain size difference between the both. However, as for plasmon-driven catalytic reactions monitored by surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) technique, an immediate and almost-complete reduction of 4-nitrobenzenethiol (4-NBT) to p,p′-dimercaptoazobenzene (DMAB) occurred when Au@CN-B was utilized as both the nanocatalyst and SERS substrate, whereas distinct characteristic peaks of 4-NBT still existed for the case of Au@CN-C.