Enhanced Plasmonic Hot Electron Transfer on Aucore‐Agshell Nanoparticles under Visible‐Light Irradiation

• Published in: ChemCatChem Vol. 15; no. 22
• Main Authors: Wang, Ying, Li, Yonglong, Zhang, Zhao, Xie, Wei
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Weinheim Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 22.11.2023
• Subjects: Bimetals; Catalytic activity; Chemical reactions; contact potential; Contact potentials; core-shell nanoparticles; Electron transfer; Gold; Hot electrons; Light irradiation; Nanoparticles; Photocatalysis; plasmonic photocatalysis; Plasmonics; surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy
• ISSN: 1867-3880; 1867-3899
• DOI: 10.1002/cctc.202300919

Plasmonic photocatalysis under visible‐light irradiation has long been regarded as a very promising strategy for inducing chemical transformations. However, the efficient utilization of these hot electrons on monometallic nanoparticles to induce chemical reaction remains a challenging subject. Here, we study plasmonic hot electron activity of Aucore‐Agshell bimetallic nanoparticles towards the four‐electron reduction of 4‐nitrothiophenol to 4,4′‐dimercaptoazobenzene. Our results show that Aucore‐Agshell nanoparticles possess a higher catalytic activity than pure Au and Ag nanoparticles and the photocatalytic transformation is strongly dependent on the thickness of Ag shell. The plasmonic catalytic activity could be explained by a boosting hot‐electron‐hole separation driven by the contact potential at the bimetallic interface. This work provides new opportunities to enhance the efficient utilization of hot electron for plasmonic photocatalysis reaction. Plasmonic photocatalysis: A boosting hot‐electron‐hole separation driven by interfacial contact potential enables high photocatalytic activity on Aucore‐Agshell bimetallic nanoparticles towards the four‐electron reduction of 4‐NTP to 4,4′‐DMAB.