Plasmonic photocatalysts for enhanced solar hydrogen production: A comprehensive review

초록

TiO2 is a photocatalyst material with a bandgap of approximately 3.2 eV (380 nm). It produces green hydrogen via water splitting of H2O -> H2 + 1/2 O2 with an activation energy Ea = 2.46 eV (237 kJ/mol) in artificial photosynthesis. Considering that the ultraviolet (UV) light constitutes approximately only 5% of incident solar irradiation, there have been extensive efforts to develop a method of the extension to the longer wavelength regions. Plasmon-enhanced photocatalytic hydrogen production has the advantage of utilizing the visible (VIS) and near-infrared (NIR) regions in the solar spectrum. Collective electronic oscillation on noble metal surfaces can supply hot electrons and holes to facilitate hydrogen production. Hot electrons can undergo dynamic pro-cesses of photoemission, photodesorption, and photoconversions on the surfaces. Noble metals can be hybridized onto semiconductors and other two-dimensional materials to enhance green hydrogen. Localized surface plas-mon resonance (LSPR) can contribute to the accelerated electron transfer including plasmon-induced resonance energy transfer (PIRET). In this work the dynamics of hot carriers in plasmon is reviewed in a comprehensive way toward more efficient green hydrogen production.

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