Anisotropic Growth of TiO₂ onto Gold Nanorods for Plasmon-Enhanced Hydrogen Production from Water Reduction

Abstract

Plasmonic metal/semiconductor heterostructures show promise for visible-light-driven photocatalysis. Gold nanorods (AuNRs) semi-coated with TiO2 are expected to be ideally structured systems for hydrogen evolution. Synthesizing such structures by wet-chemistry methods, however, has proved challenging. Here we report the bottom-up synthesis of AuNR/TiO2 nanodumbbells (NDs) with spatially separated Au/TiO2 regions, whose structures are governed by the NRs' diameter, and the higher curvature and lower density of CnTAB surfactant at the NRs' tips than on their lateral surfaces, as well as the morphology's dependence on concentration, and alkyl chain length of CnTAB. The NDs show plasmon-enhanced H2 evolution under visible and near-infrared light.

Hot‐Electron‐Mediated Photochemical Reactions: Principles, Recent Advances, and Challenges

“…[56] As shown in Figure 6, the as-synthesized AuNR-TiO 2 photocatalyst showed a spatially separated dumbbell structure (Figure 6a-h …”

Bimetallic AuRh nanodendrites consisting of Au icosahedron cores and atomically ultrathin Rh nanoplate shells: synthesis and light-enhanced catalytic activity

“…Previous studies have demonstrated that the LSPR property of bimetallic core-shell nanostructures can significantly facilitate their catalytic activity for many important reactions, such as hydrogen production from water splitting, 14,15,54 dehydrogenation of formic Bimetallic AuRh nanodendrites Y Kang et al acid 17 and a Suzuki coupling reaction. 55 The unique heterostructure and LSPR optical property of bimetallic Au@Rh core-shell nanodendrites offer the possibility of light-enhanced catalytic applications.…”

“…12,13 Among various bimetallic nanostructures, Au-based core-shell-type noble metal nanostructures have been widely employed in various important heterogeneous catalytic reactions, especially in lightenhanced catalytic reactions, originating from the high mass activity of noble metal shells and the distinctive localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) of Au nanocrystal cores. [14][15][16][17] In most bimetallic core-shell nanodendrites, the metal shells consist of spherical nanocrystals. 5,18,19 Recently, the atomically thick noble metal nanoplates, an emerging star nanomaterial for the catalysis, have attracted more attention compared with the traditional zerodimensional noble metal nanocrystals, owing to the extremely high meal atom utilization and superior catalytic activity.…”

Tailoring TiO2 Nanotube‐Interlaced Graphite Carbon Nitride Nanosheets for Improving Visible‐Light‐Driven Photocatalytic Performance

“…Semiconductor photocatalysis as a type of green technology for solar energy conversion has exhibited fascinating application prospects in environmental and energy‐relevant areas, such as photocatalytic degradation of pollutants and photocatalytic hydrogen generation 1. In the wave of photocatalysis research, graphitic carbon nitride (g‐C 3 N 4 )‐based photocatalysts have been significantly flourishing2 since its promising utilization for water splitting under visible‐light irradiation reported in 2009 3.…”