Ligand-Exchange Assisted Formation of Au/TiO2 Schottky Contact for Visible-Light Photocatalysis
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- 作者：Dawei Ding ; Kai Liu ; Shengnan He ; Chuanbo Gao ; Yadong Yin
- 刊名：Nano Letters
- 出版年：2014
- 出版时间：November 12, 2014
- 年：2014
- 卷：14
- 期：11
- 页码：6731-6736
- 全文大小：417K
- ISSN：1530-6992
文摘
Plasmonic noble metal nanoparticles have emerged as a promising material in sensitizing wide-bandgap semiconductors for visible-light photocatalysis. Conventional methods in constructing such heterocatalysts suffer from either poor control over the size of the metal nanoparticles or inefficient charge transfer through the metal/semiconductor interface, which limit their photocatalytic activity. To solve this problem, in this work we construct Au/TiO2 photocatalysts by depositing presynthesized colloidal Au nanoparticles with well-controlled sizes to TiO2 nanocrystals and then removing capping ligands on the Au surface through a delicately designed ligand-exchange method, which leads to close Au/TiO2 Schottky contact after a mild annealing process. Benefiting from this unique synthesis strategy, the obtained photocatalysts show superior activity to conventionally prepared photocatalysts in dye decomposition and water-reduction hydrogen production under visible-light illumination. This study not only opens up new opportunities in designing photoactive materials with high stability and enhanced performance for solar energy conversion but also provides a potential solution for the well-recognized challenge in cleaning capping ligands from the surface of colloidal catalyst nanoparticles.