| AVS 59th Annual International Symposium and Exhibition | |
| Energy Frontiers Focus Topic | Friday Sessions |
| Session EN+SS-FrM |
| Session: | Photocatalysis and Solar Fuels |
| Presenter: | J. DuChene, University of Florida |
| Authors: | J. DuChene, University of Florida B. Sweeny, University of Florida A. Johnston-Peck, Brookhaven National Laboratory D. Su, Brookhaven National Laboratory W.D. Wei, University of Florida |
| Correspondent: | Click to Email |
Solar water splitting to produce hydrogen represents a potential approach to satisfy the global energy demand in a sustainable manner. Recently it has been reported that the incorporation of plasmonic nanoparticles into semiconductor architectures offers a potential route to increase the efficiency of photoelectrochemical water splitting due to the unique optical properties of plasmonic nanomaterials. We investigated the energetics and dynamics of electron flow in Au-TiO2 heterostructures following excitation of the Au nanoparticles surface plasmon resonance with visible light. Our results show that the incorporation of Au nanoparticles into wide band gap semiconductors has promise for use as visible light sensitizers. Moreover, we have studied the role of the hole scavenger methanol in the plasmon-mediated charge transfer process in order to ascertain the nature of possible thermodynamic or kinetic limitations involved in this process. These results demonstrate that the excited-state lifetime of these hot electrons in the TiO2 conduction band is dramatically extended relative to direct band gap excitation within the semiconductor itself, suggesting a possible strategy for improving the efficiency of photocatalytic reactions.