Crystal-facet-dependent hot-electron transfer in plasmonic-Au/semiconductor heterostructures for efficient solar photocatalysisElectronic supplementary information (ESI) available. See DOI: 10.1039/c5tc01406a

• Main Authors: Liu, Guigao, Wang, Tao, Zhou, Wei, Meng, Xianguang, Zhang, Huabin, Liu, Huimin, Kako, Tetsuya, Ye, Jinhua
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 2050-7526; 2050-7534
• DOI: 10.1039/c5tc01406a

Here, using Au-BiOCl as models, we show the significant crystal facet effects of the semiconductor on hot-electron transfer within such plasmonic heterostructures under visible light. It is found that {010} facets of BiOCl are greatly advantageous over {001} facets for the hot-electron injection, as evidenced by steady-state diffuse reflectance spectroscopy and photoelectrochemical measurements. Consequently, Au-BiOCl-010 exhibits superior activity for photocatalytic aerobic oxidation of 2-propanol with a quantum efficiency of 1.3%, being 3.5 times higher than that of Au-BiOCl-001. The differences in band structure between the {001} and {010} facets of BiOCl may account for the facet-dependent hot-electron transfer characteristics. Semiconductor crystal facets are found to have significant effects on hot-electron transfer from Au nanoparticles to the semiconductor within plasmonic photocatalysts under visible-light irradiation, leading to facet-dependent photocatalysis.