Molecular Linking Selectivity on Self-Assembled Metal-Semiconductor Nano-Hybrid Systems.

Thinh Luong The Nguyen,Kaibo Zheng,Alba Gascón Nicolás,Jacinto Sá,Tomas Edvinsson,Mohamed Abdellah,Jie Meng

doi:10.3390/nano10071378

Thinh Luong The Nguyen, Kaibo Zheng + Show 5 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/nano10071378

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Abstract

Plasmonics nanoparticles gained prominence in the last decade in fields of photonics, solar energy conversion and catalysis. It has been shown that anchoring the plasmonics nanoparticles on semiconductors via a molecular linker reduces band bending and increases hot carriers’ lifetime, which is essential for the development of efficient photovoltaic devices and photocatalytic systems. Aminobenzoic acid is a commonly used linker to connect the plasmonic metal to an oxide-based semiconductor. The coordination to the oxide was established to occur via the carboxylic functional group, however, it remains unclear what type of coordination that is established with the metal site. Herein, it is demonstrated that metal is covalently bonded to the linker via the amino group, as supported by Surface-Enhanced Resonant Raman and infrared spectroscopies. The covalent linkage increases significantly the amount of silver grafted, resulting in an improvement of the system catalytic proficiency in the 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) photoreduction.

Highlights

Light conversion into electric and chemical energy is considered one of the key enablers for mankind to switch fossil fuel economy into a green and sustainable economy
It has been shown that anchoring the plasmonics nanoparticles on semiconductors via a molecular linker reduces band bending and increases hot carriers’ lifetime, which is essential for the development of efficient photovoltaic devices and photocatalytic systems
The particles were found to be elongated spheres according to Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) (Figure 2a) and confirmed by the double peak on Dynamic light scattering (DLS) measurement (Figure S1 in supporting information (SI))

Summary

Introduction

Light conversion into electric and chemical energy is considered one of the key enablers for mankind to switch fossil fuel economy into a green and sustainable economy. Plasmonic metals have optical absorptions that exceed by tenfold their geometric sizes, making their ability to convert light into charge carriers unmatchable. Excitation of their localized surface plasmon (LSP) creates hot carriers [1,2] that can be used in photocatalysis [3,4,5,6,7,8] and photovoltaics [9,10,11]. The most common discriminator when it comes to molecular linkers is their functional groups They are often selected to have specific selectivity to metal or oxides. The covalent linkage improved significantly the amount of silver grafted and the catalytic proficiency in the 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) photoreduction

Materials Synthesis

Characterization

Catalytic Reduction of 4-Nitrophenol

Results and Discussion

Conclusions