Surface plasmon resonance effect enhances spin-polarized electrons to promote photocatalytic CO2 reduction

The construction of chiral materials has always been a research hotspot in the field of non-chiral nanomaterials. By introducing chiral destructive agents, materials are endowed with chiral nanostructures, which can be used in the field of photocatalysis. Au nanoparticles (Au NPs) are a typical photosensitizer capable of producing surface plasmon resonance (SPR) effects, producing CO and CH 4 in photocatalytic CO 2 reduction. We suggest that the SPR effect of the photocatalyst (D-BiOBr/Au) for Au NPS deposition of nonchiral bismuth bromide oxide nanomaterials can enhance the photocatalytic CO 2 reduction by enhancing spin-polarized electrons. It is worth noting that D-BiOBr/Au chiral materials enhance spin-polarized electrons due to SPR effect, and their photocatalytic CO 2 reduction performance is significantly better than D-BiOBr and original BiOBr without SPR effect. The CO yield of D-BiOBr/Au is 24.39 μmol/g h −1 , which is 2.02 times of D-BiOBr and 2.43 times of BiOBr, respectively. The mechanism of photocatalytic CO 2 reduction was further studied by FDTD simulation. The reason for the improved photocatalytic CO 2 reduction efficiency of D-BiOBr/Au is the increase of spin-polarized electrons due to the SPR effect, thus prolonging the carrier lifetime and promoting spin-polarized electron-hole separation. The results show that enhancing spin-polarized electrons through SPR effect is an effective strategy to improve photocatalyzed CO 2 reduction in photocatalyzed semiconductors.