The intrinsic catalytic activity of palladium (Pd) is significantly enhanced in gold (Au)-Pd alloy nanoparticles (NPs) under visible light irradiation at ambient temperatures. The alloy NPs strongly absorb light and efficiently enhance the conversion of several reactions, including Suzuki-Miyaura cross coupling, oxidative addition of benzylamine, selective oxidation of aromatic alcohols to corresponding aldehydes and ketones, and phenol oxidation. The Au/Pd molar ratio of the alloy NPs has an important impact on performance of the catalysts since it determines both the electronic heterogeneity and the distribution of Pd sites at the NP surface, with these two factors playing key roles in the catalytic activity. Irradiating with light produces an even more profound enhancement in the catalytic performance of the NPs. For example, the best conversion rate achieved thermally at 30 °C for Suzuki-Miyaura cross coupling was 37% at a Au/Pd ratio of 1:1.86, while under light illumination the yield increased to 96% under the same conditions. The catalytic activity of the alloy NPs depends on the intensity and wavelength of incident light. Light absorption due to the Localized Surface Plasmon Resonance of gold nanocrystals plays an important role in enhancing catalyst performance. We believe that the conduction electrons of the NPs gain the light absorbed energy producing energetic electrons at the surface Pd sites, which enhances the sites' intrinsic catalytic ability. These findings provide useful guidelines for designing efficient catalysts composed of alloys of a plasmonic metal and a catalytically active transition metal for various organic syntheses driven by sunlight.

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Gold nanoparticles strongly absorb both visible light and ultraviolet light to drive an oxidation reaction for a synthetic dye, as well as phenol degradation and selective oxidation of benzyl alcohol under UV light.

Supported nanoparticles (NPs) of nonplasmonic transition metals (Pd, Pt, Rh, and Ir) are widely used as thermally activated catalysts for the synthesis of important organic compounds, but little is known about their photocatalytic capabilities. We discovered that irradiation with light can significantly enhance the intrinsic catalytic performance of these metal NPs at ambient temperatures for several types of reactions. These metal NPs strongly absorb the light mainly through interband electronic transitions. The excited electrons interact with the reactant molecules on the particles to accelerate these reactions. The rate of the catalyzed reaction depends on the concentration and energy of the excited electrons, which can be increased by increasing the light intensity or by reducing the irradiation wavelength. The metal NPs can also effectively couple thermal and light energy sources to more efficiently drive chemical transformations.

We report herein highly efficient photocatalysts comprising supported nanoparticles (NPs) of gold (Au) and palladium (Pd) alloys, which utilize visible light to catalyse the Suzuki cross-coupling reactions at ambient temperature. The alloy NPs strongly absorb visible light, energizing the conduction electrons of NPs which produce highly energetic electrons at the surface sites. The surface of the energized NPs activates the substrates and these particles exhibit good activity on a range of typical Suzuki reaction combinations. The photocatalytic efficiencies strongly depend on the Au : Pd ratio of the alloy NPs, irradiation light intensity and wavelength. The results show that the alloy nanoparticles efficiently couple thermal and photonic energy sources to drive Suzuki reactions. Results of the density functional theory (DFT) calculations indicate that transfer of the light-excited electrons from the nanoparticle surface to the reactant molecules adsorbed on the nanoparticle surface activates the reactants. The knowledge acquired in this study may inspire further studies of new efficient photocatalysts and a wide range of organic syntheses driven by sunlight.