Exceptional enhancement of H{sub 2} production in alkaline environment over plasmonic Au/TiO{sub 2} photocatalyst under visible light

A reaction environment modulation strategy was employed to promote the H{sub 2} production over plasmonic Au/semiconductor composites. It is shown that the fast consumption of the holes in plasmonic Au nanoparticles by methanol in alkaline reaction environment remarkably increases H{sub 2} generatio...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:APL materials 2015-10, Vol.3 (10)
Main Authors: Meng, Xianguang, Liu, Guigao, Environmental Remediation Materials Unit and International Center for Materials Nanoarchitectonics, Yu, Qing, Wang, Tao, Chang, Kun, Li, Peng, Liu, Lequan, Ye, Jinhua, TU-NIMS Joint Research Center, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tianjin University, 92 Weijin Road, Tianjin 300072
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
BIOMASS
COMPOSITE MATERIALS
ENERGY-LEVEL TRANSITIONS
GOLD
HOLES
HYDROGEN
MATERIALS SCIENCE
METHANOL
MODULATION
NANOPARTICLES
PH VALUE
PHOTOCATALYSIS
PLASMONS
QUANTUM EFFICIENCY
SEMICONDUCTOR MATERIALS
TITANIUM OXIDES
VISIBLE RADIATION
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Summary:A reaction environment modulation strategy was employed to promote the H{sub 2} production over plasmonic Au/semiconductor composites. It is shown that the fast consumption of the holes in plasmonic Au nanoparticles by methanol in alkaline reaction environment remarkably increases H{sub 2} generation rate under visible light. The photocatalytic reaction is mainly driven by the interband transition of plasmonic Au nanoparticles, and the apparent quantum efficiency of plasmon-assisted H{sub 2} production at pH 14 reaches 6% at 420 nm. The reaction environment control provides a simple and effective way for the highly efficient solar fuel production from biomass reforming through plasmonic photocatalysis in future.
ISSN:2166-532X
2166-532X
DOI:10.1063/1.4921783