Exceptional enhancement of Hproduction in alkaline environment over plasmonic Au/TiOphotocatalyst under visible light

Abstract

A reaction environment modulation strategy was employed to promote the Hproduction over plasmonic Au/semiconductor composites. It is shown that the fast consumption of the holes in plasmonic Au nanoparticles by methanol in alkaline reaction environment remarkably increases Hgeneration rate under visible light. The photocatalytic reaction is mainly driven by the interband transition of plasmonic Au nanoparticles, and the apparent quantum efficiency of plasmon-assisted Hproduction at pH 14 reaches 6% at 420 nm. The reaction environment control provides a simple and effective way for the highly efficient solar fuel production from biomass reforming through plasmonic photocatalysis in future.