Imaging Science and Photochemistry ›› 2015, Vol. 33 ›› Issue (5): 394-402.DOI: 10.7517/j.issn.1674-0475.2015.05.394

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Mechanism Study of Au Nanoparticle Functionalized Plasmonic Photocatalyst

CAO Yinhu1,2, CAO Yitao1,2, WU Lizhu1, TONG Zhenhe1, ZHANG Tierui1   

  1. 1. Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, P. R. China;
    2. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, P. R. China
  • Received:2015-03-19 Revised:2015-03-26 Online:2015-09-16 Published:2015-09-16

Abstract:

Au nanoparticles function in many different ways in plasmonic photocatalysts. Herein, N and C co-doped TiO2(D-TiO2) ultrathin layer coated SiO2/Au/D-TiO2sandwich core-shell nanostructures and SiO2/D-TiO2core-shell nanostructures were designed and synthesized by sol-gel method to reveal the functional mechanism of Au nanoparticles in the photocatalytic water-splitting under visible light irradiation. Our results demonstrated that Au nanoparticles exhibited the coexistence of the Schottky effect and plasmonic effect for gas generation. The distinct mechanisms depended on charge amount generated together with the loading amount of Au nanoparticles. In the condition of a low loading amount of Au nanoparticles, the functional mechanisms showed their relationship with the amount of photogenerated charges. At a high loading level, Au nanoparticles mainly exhibited the Schottky effect under the visible light irradiation.

Key words: Au nanoparticles, plasmonic photocatalysts, photocatalytic H2evolution, functional mechanism