Unraveling the role of cuprous oxide and boosting solar energy conversion via interface engineering in a Cu/TiO₂ plasmonic photocatalyst

Abstract

<p>The presence of Cu₂O covering in Cu/TiO₂ composite can move LSPR peak out of inter-band transition range, create more interfaces, induce Fano resonance effect, facilitate hot electron injection, and may constitute a Z-Scheme of Cu₂O/Cu/TiO₂.</p>

Exploring the modulation mechanism of the LSPR effect of Cu periodic nanosphere arrays to promote the performance of TiO2 photoelectrodes

“…In Model C, Cu NSs are completely encapsulated by the TiO 2 substrate, resulting in the more prominent red-shift. Based on our previous work, 26,27 in Model D, there is a strong interaction between the Cu NSs and TiO 2 substrate, as this configuration is not limited by the direction of the incident light, which leads to significant LSPR resonance absorption in the Visible-Near Infrared (Vis-NIR) region of Cu NSs, and the interband transition between 400 and 600 nm is also significantly changed. It is worth noting that the strong interaction between the Cu NSs and TiO 2 substrate not only changes the LSPR effect of the Cu NSs, but also changes the intrinsic semiconductor light absorption characteristics of the TiO 2 substrate.…”

“…41 In the published work, we also found that the presence of a certain thickness of Cu 2 O covering on the surface of Cu NS produces the Fano effect. 27 However, there is no resonance peak splitting in the periodic Cu/Cu 2 O PNAs in the present work, which means that it is necessary to further manipulate the angle of the incident light or the configuration of Cu/Cu 2 O PNAs to explore the existence of Fano effects.…”

“…Considering the different effects of Cu 2 O convering together, we found that Cu NS has the most significant potential to enhance the PEC performance of TiO 2 photoelectrode when it is exposed to TiO 2 substrates with a Cu 2 O covering thickness of 5 nm. 27 On the other hand, when the Cu NSs are completely encapsulated by a TiO 2 photoelectrode (i.e. Model C and Model D in Fig.…”

“…Subsequently, we continued to study the influence of Cu 2 O covering on the LSPR effect in the Cu/TiO 2 composite system, because the oxidation of Cu into Cu 2 O is very easy to occur. 27 Based on these previous works, in order to further reveal the advantages and LSPR effects of Cu nanospheres in the Cu/TiO 2 composite system, we designed and optimized the combination of a Cu PNA and a TiO 2 photoelectrode by numerical simulation of a finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method in this article. The different configurations, arrangements, and periodical parameters of Cu PNAs and the corresponding LSPR effects on the TiO 2 photoelectrodes were systematically investigated in detail.…”

Solar fuels: research and development strategies to accelerate photocatalytic CO2 conversion into hydrocarbon fuels

“…Hence, combining suitable narrowbandgap photocatalysts could help overcome this tradeoff and realize synergistic effects. 131 The classification of heterostructures with respect to their band alignment suggests that there exist three main types, namely, straddling alignment (type I), staggered alignment (type II), and broken alignment (type III), as depicted in Fig. 8.…”