Au-Ag alloy nanoparticles with tunable cavity for plasmon-enhanced photocatalytic H2 evolution

Au-Ag alloy nanoparticles with different cavity sizes have great potential for improving photocatalytic performance due to their tunable plasmon effect.In this study,galvanic replacement was combined with co-reduction with the reaction kinetics processes regulated to rapidly synthesize Au-Ag hollow alloy nanoparticles with tunable cavity sizes.The position of the localized surface plasmon resonance(LSPR)peak could be effectively adjusted between 490 nm and 713 nm by decreasing the cavity size of the Au-Ag hollow nanoparticles from 35 nm to 20 nm.The plasmon-enhanced photocatalytic H2 evolution of alloy nanoparticles with different cavity sizes was investigated.Compared with pure P25(TiO2),intact and thin-shelled Au-Ag hollow nanoparticles(HNPs)-supported photocatalyst exhibited an increase in the photocatalytic H2 evolution rate from 0.48μmol h^−1 to 4μmol h^−1 under full-spectrum irradiation.This improved photocatalytic performance was likely due to the plasmon-induced electromagnetic field effect,which caused strong photogenerated charge separation,rather than the generation of hot electrons.

A novel black TiO2/ZnO nanocone arrays heterojunction on carbon cloth for highly efficient photoelectrochemical performance

ZnO nanocone arrays(NCAs)decorated with black TiO2 nanoparticles(BTiO2 NPs)were uniformly anchored on the surface of carbon cloth(CC)directly by a simply electrochemical deposition method.Thus a novel B-TiO2 NPs/ZnO NCAs-CC hierarchical heterostructure was formed.It displayed superior performance and achieved a higher photocurrent over 0.4 mA·cm^-2 before the onset of the dark current,attributed to the separation of the photogenerated electron-hole pair.Based on the B-TiO2 NPs/ZnO NCAs-CC heterostructure,the catalyst was fabricated for promoting the separation of charge carriers.Moreover,the introduction of Ti^3+ and oxygen vacancies on the surface of TiO2 NPs expanded the absorption band edge and enhanced the electrical conductivity as well as the charge transportation on the catalytic surface.It indicates that the B-TiO2 NPs/ZnO NCAs-CC composite is beneficial to the improvement of the photoelectrochemical(PEC)activity.