Enhanced Plasmonic Hot Electron Transfer on Aucore-Agshell Nanoparticles under Visible-Light Irradiation

Graphical Plasmonic photocatalysis : A boosting hot-electron-hole separation driven by interfacial contact potential enables high photocatalytic activity on Au core -Ag shell bimetallic nanoparticles towards the four-electron reduction of 4-NTP to 4,4′-DMAB. Plasmonic photocatalysis under visible-light irradiation has long been regarded as a very promising strategy for inducing chemical transformations. However, the efficient utilization of these hot electrons on monometallic nanoparticles to induce chemical reaction remains a challenging subject. Here, we study plasmonic hot electron activity of Au core -Ag shell bimetallic nanoparticles towards the four-electron reduction of 4-nitrothiophenol to 4,4′-dimercaptoazobenzene. Our results show that Au core -Ag shell nanoparticles possess a higher catalytic activity than pure Au and Ag nanoparticles and the photocatalytic transformation is strongly dependent on the thickness of Ag shell. The plasmonic catalytic activity could be explained by a boosting hot-electron-hole separation driven by the contact potential at the bimetallic interface. This work provides new opportunities to enhance the efficient utilization of hot electron for plasmonic photocatalysis reaction.