Plasmonic nanostructures have been employed as a novel class of tunable and robust light harvesting materials for solar energy conversion. The nanostructures have a noticeable feature, the localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR), which indicates a strong oscillation of free electrons at metallic interfaces. The LSPR effect brings an advantage to the photocatalysis on semiconductors. The plasmonic metal nanoparticles play an important role in a metal/semiconductor junction for a strong absorption of specific wavelengths and transfer of energetic electron. These hot electrons are formed during the process of the LSPR excitation, to the nearby semiconductor. However, plasmon-induced hot electron injection from a metal to a semiconductor is so far less efficient because hot electrons are quickly relaxed into lower energy levels.In this study, a photosynthetic Au/CdS core-shell on perovskite SrTiO3 nanoparticles was prepared for a favorable flow of hot electrons, resulting in a high production of H2 from water as well as significant amount of electron harvest within a range of visible light. We also proved the synergistic effect of three dominant features of the prepared nanomaterial, including the enhanced hot electron injection, Schottky junction of Au and SrTiO3, and high-performance electron filtering of SrTiO3. The findings from this study provide a new approach to overcome the low efficiency of typical plasmonic nanostructures and will be highly informative for the design of plasmonic photocatalysts as well as of photoelectrochemical devices, such as photovoltaic cells or water-splitting devices.

Plasmon-enhanced solar energy conversion to chemical and electrical energy

248th National Meeting (2014)

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