Plasmon-Mediated Solar Energy Conversion via Photocatalysis in Noble Metal/Semiconductor Composites.
Plasmonics has remained a prominent and growing field over the past several decades. The coupling of various chemical and photo phenomenon has sparked considerable interest in plasmon-mediated photocatalysis. Given plasmonic photocatalysis has only been developed for a relatively short period, considerable progress has been made in improving the absorption across the full solar spectrum and the efficiency of photo-generated charge carrier separation. With recent advances in fundamental (i.e., mechanisms) and experimental studies (i.e., the influence of size, geometry, surrounding dielectric field, etc.) on plasmon-mediated photocatalysis, the rational design and synthesis of metal/semiconductor hybrid nanostructure photocatalysts has been realized. This review seeks to highlight the recent impressive developments in plasmon-mediated photocatalytic mechanisms (i.e., Schottky junction, direct electron transfer, enhanced local electric field, plasmon resonant energy transfer, and scattering and heating effects), summarize a set of factors (i.e., size, geometry, dielectric environment, loading amount and composition of plasmonic metal, and nanostructure and properties of semiconductors) that largely affect plasmonic photocatalysis, and finally conclude with a perspective on future directions within this rich field of research.
School of Materials Science and Engineering Georgia Institute of Technology Atlanta GA 30332 USA; State Key Laboratory of Physical Chemistry of Solid Surfaces, Department of Chemistry Xiamen University Xiamen 361005 P. R. China.
Mengye
M
Wang
Department of Physics Xiamen University Xiamen 361005 P. R. China.
Meidan
M
Ye
School of Materials Science and Engineering Georgia Institute of Technology Atlanta GA 30332 USA.
James
J
Iocozzia
State Key Laboratory of Physical Chemistry of Solid Surfaces, Department of Chemistry Xiamen University Xiamen 361005 P. R. China.
Changjian
C
Lin
School of Materials Science and Engineering Georgia Institute of Technology Atlanta GA 30332 USA.
Zhiqun
Z
Lin
localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR); noble metal; photocatalysis; semiconductors