Review—Origin and Promotional Effects of Plasmonics in Photocatalysis

Abstract

Plasmonic effects including near-field coupling, light scattering, guided mode through surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs), Förster resonant energy transfer (FRET), and thermoplasmonics are extensively used for harnessing inexhaustible solar energy for photovoltaics and photocatalysis. Recently, plasmonic hot carrier-driven photocatalysis has received additional attention thanks to its specific selectivity in the catalytic conversion of gas molecules and organic compounds, resulting from the direct injection of hot carriers into the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital of the adsorbate molecule. The excellent light trapping property and high efficiency of hot charge-carrier generation through electromagnetic surface plasmon decay have been identified as the dominant mechanisms that promote energy-intensive chemical reactions at room temperature and atmospheric pressure. However, understanding the electromagnetic effects of plasmonics and distinguishing them from chemical effects in photocatalysis is challenging. While there exist several reviews underlining the experimental observations of plasmonic effects, this critical review addresses the physical origin of the various plasmon-related phenomena and how they can promote photocatalysis. The conditions under which each plasmonic effect dominates and how to distinguish one from another is also discussed. Finally, future research directions are proposed with the aim to accelerate progress in this field at the interface between chemistry and physics.

Nanocomposites of Cu2O with plasmonic metals (Au, Ag): design, synthesis, and photocatalytic applications

“…10b ) involves the generation of strong electromagnetic fields that are localized at the metal nanoparticle surface (referred to as near-fields). 105 Under light irradiation, the LSPR induced on a plasmonic metal nanoparticle gives rise to near-fields that are spatially non-homogeneous, being more intense at the nanoparticle surface and decreasing exponentially with distance. A semiconductor that is positioned close to the photoexcited plasmonic metal will experience these fields, promoting interband transitions that create electron–hole pairs in the semiconductor.…”

Insights on Carbon Neutrality by Photocatalytic Conversion of Small Molecules into Value-Added Chemicals or Fuels

“…Cocatalysts loading has been extensively investigated as an efficient strategy to lower the activation energy and equally important to retard the electrons and holes recombination during photocatalysis, thus leading to enhanced photocatalytic activity. , Very recently, we reported a ternary Ru/RuO 2 /g-C 3 N 4 heterostructure for N 2 photoreduction . Benefiting from the improved charge separation by loading Ru and RuO 2 and enhanced N 2 adsorption and activation on Ru species, the optimal Ru/RuO 2 /g-C 3 N 4 exhibited an NH 3 yield of 13.3 μmol g –1 h –1 under full spectrum irradiation, while almost no NH 3 were detected on pristine g-C 3 N 4 .…”

Silver-Based Surface Plasmon Sensors: Fabrication and Applications

“…SP can reduce the dimensionality of optical control from three to two dimensions to achieve effective regulation of super-diffraction limit light transmission at the nanometer scale, and at the same time, it can realize local convergence and amplification of electromagnetic energy at the nanometer scale. Due to the properties of SPP surface localization and near-field enhancement, the modulation of SPP by metal micro-nano structures, composite structures of metals and materials produces a series of novel phenomena such as optical nonlinear enhancement effects, transmission enhancement, orientation effects, high sensitivity to refractive index, negative refraction, and low threshold dynamic modulation, which make SPP useful for sensing [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 ], catalysis [ 6 , 7 , 8 ], waveguides [ 9 , 10 ], and lasers [ 11 ] and other fields to show important application prospects.…”