title: All-solid-state Z-scheme in CdS-Au-TiO2 three-component nanojunction system.
abstract: Natural photosynthesis, which achieves efficient solar energy conversion through the combined actions of many types of molecules ingeniously arranged in a nanospace, highlights the importance of a technique for site-selective coupling of different materials to realize artificial high-efficiency devices. In view of increasingly serious energy and environmental problems, semiconductor-based artificial photosynthetic systems consisting of isolated photochemical system 1 (PS1), PS2 and the electron-transfer system have recently been developed. However, the direct coupling of the components is crucial for retarding back reactions to increase the reaction efficiency. Here, we report a simple technique for forming an anisotropic CdS-Au-TiO2 nanojunction, in which PS1(CdS), PS2(TiO2) and the electron-transfer system (Au) are spatially fixed. This three-component system exhibits a high photocatalytic activity, far exceeding those of the single- and two-component systems, as a result of vectorial electron transfer driven by the two-step excitation of TiO2 and CdS.
authors.affiliation: Department of Applied Chemistry, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Kinki University, 3-4-1, Kowakae, Higashi-Osaka, Osaka 577-8502, Japan. h-tada@apch.kindai.ac.jp
authors.forename: Hiroaki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tada
authors.forename: Tomohiro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Mitsui
authors.forename: Tomokazu
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kiyonaga
authors.forename: Tomoki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Akita
authors.forename: Koji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tanaka