Photocatalysis provides a route to transform solar energy into useful fuels. Super-resolution fluorescence microscopy enables the detection of single photocatalytic events on single catalyst particles in real-time, which can provide new insights into how the morphology and surface structure of a particle affects its activity. We are using chemically triggered fluorogenic probes to study the spatial distribution of active sites on single tungsten oxide nanowires. Through quantitative, coordinate-based colocalization of different probe molecules on the same nanowire, we demonstrate that the active regions for photocatalytic hydroxyl generation possesses greater amounts of oxygen vacancies. By tuning the adsorption of surfactants bound to both oxygen vacancies and surface hydroxyl groups on the tungsten oxide nanowires, we show how different surface sites control the activity of the nanowires for different catalytic reactions. Our results indicate that oxygen vacancies activate adsorbed water molecules, and increase the generation of hydroxyl radicals, which is an important intermediate in several photocatalytic oxidation reactions.

Single-molecule activity mapping of tungsten oxide nanowire photocatalysts

Macromolecular Chemistry: The Second Century

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ACS Spring 2020 National Meeting & Expo

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.