TY - JOUR
T1 - Interfacial Modulation with Aluminum Oxide for Efficient Plasmon-Induced Water Oxidation
AU - Zeng, Bin
AU - Wang, Shengyang
AU - Gao, Yuying
AU - Li, Guanna
AU - Tian, Wenming
AU - Meeprasert, Jittima
AU - Li, Hao
AU - Xie, Huichen
AU - Fan, Fengtao
AU - More Authors, null
PY - 2020
Y1 - 2020
N2 - Plasmon-induced photocatalysts hold great promise for solar energy conversion owing to their strong light-harvesting ability and tunable optical properties. However, the complex process of interfacial extraction of hot carriers and the roles of metal/semiconductor interfaces in plasmonic photocatalysts are still not clearly understood. Herein, the manipulation of the interface between a plasmon metal (Au) and a semiconductor (rutile TiO2) by introducing an interfacial metal oxide (Al2O3) is reported. The resulting Au/Al2O3/TiO2 exhibits remarkable enhancement in photocatalytic water oxidation activity compared with Au/TiO2, giving an apparent quantum efficiency exceeding 1.3% at 520 nm for photocatalytic water oxidation. Such an interfacial modulation approach significantly prolongs the lifetime of hot carriers in the Au/TiO2 system, which conclusively improves the utilization of hot carriers for plasmon-induced water oxidation reaction upon irradiation. This work emphasizes the essential role of the interfacial structure in plasmonic devices and provides an alternative method for designing efficient plasmonic photocatalysts for solar energy conversion.
AB - Plasmon-induced photocatalysts hold great promise for solar energy conversion owing to their strong light-harvesting ability and tunable optical properties. However, the complex process of interfacial extraction of hot carriers and the roles of metal/semiconductor interfaces in plasmonic photocatalysts are still not clearly understood. Herein, the manipulation of the interface between a plasmon metal (Au) and a semiconductor (rutile TiO2) by introducing an interfacial metal oxide (Al2O3) is reported. The resulting Au/Al2O3/TiO2 exhibits remarkable enhancement in photocatalytic water oxidation activity compared with Au/TiO2, giving an apparent quantum efficiency exceeding 1.3% at 520 nm for photocatalytic water oxidation. Such an interfacial modulation approach significantly prolongs the lifetime of hot carriers in the Au/TiO2 system, which conclusively improves the utilization of hot carriers for plasmon-induced water oxidation reaction upon irradiation. This work emphasizes the essential role of the interfacial structure in plasmonic devices and provides an alternative method for designing efficient plasmonic photocatalysts for solar energy conversion.
KW - charge separations
KW - interfacial modulations
KW - plasmonic photocatalysts
KW - water oxidations
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85097031393&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1002/adfm.202005688
DO - 10.1002/adfm.202005688
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85097031393
SN - 1616-301X
VL - 31
JO - Advanced Functional Materials
JF - Advanced Functional Materials
IS - 6
M1 - 2005688
ER -