2017
Prolonged Hot Electron Dynamics in Plasmonic-Metal/Semiconductor (Au/TiO2) Heterostructures with Implications for Solar Photocatalysis

Tuesday, 7 October 2014: 16:00
Expo Center, 1st Floor, Universal 19 (Moon Palace Resort)
W. D. Wei (University of Florida)
Ideal solar-to-fuel photocatalysts must effectively harvest sunlight to generate the significant quantities of long-lived charge carriers necessary for chemical reactions. Here we demonstrate the merits of augmenting traditional photoelectrochemical cells with plasmonic nanoparticles to satisfy these daunting photocatalytic requirements. Electrochemical techniques were employed to elucidate the mechanics of plasmon-mediated electron transfer in Au/TiO2 heterostructures in solution under visible-light (λ > 515 nm) irradiation. Significantly, we discovered that these transferred electrons displayed excited-state lifetimes two orders of magnitude longer than those of electrons photogenerated directly within TiO2 via UV excitation. These long-lived electrons further enable visible-light-driven H2 evolution from water, heralding a new photocatalytic paradigm for solar energy conversion.