Catalyzing hydrogen production: Exploring plasmonic effects in self-assembled CuO/Cu2O thin films via pulsed laser deposition

Abstract

Plasmonic catalysis triggers the dissociation of H2 or adsorbed O2 (sluggish processes) under continuous wave excitation via plasmon decay. This is coupled to interband or intraband excitation of d-band or sp-band, respectively, to levels above fermi level of metals. Here, we have studied the plasmonic and photocatalytic behavior in an environment friendly medium with AM 1.5 G sunlight of CuO/Cu2O thin films fabricated by pulsed laser deposition technique in vacuum with varying thickness. We have achieved ∼0.59 kmol h−1g−1H2 production in the CuO/Cu2O film with a thickness of ∼27 nm. The role of plasmons with metal–dielectric and semiconductor–semiconductor interfaces is conducted through both experimental and theoretical approaches. The results suggest that the impact of plasmonic catalysis/synthesis is subject to the dimension, composition, and band alignment of two interface materials.