Abstract
The present work demonstrates proof of concept of a nanowire–nanoparticle conjugate device that produces hydrogen when suspended in water and exposed to visible radiation. The mechanism of hydrogen generation is attributed to photoelectrochemical cleavage of water. The vanadium oxyhydrate (V3O7·H2O) nanowires are synthesized by a sol-gel procedure and subsequently decorated with Au nanoparticles by reduction chemistry. The nanostructures are characterized by XRD, TEM, EDS, and optical/Raman spectroscopy. The photolytic product is analyzed by gas chromatography. The author discusses various mechanisms, which are unique to the multifunctional nanostructures and improve the photolytic efficiency, such as efficient splitting of photogenerated electron/hole pairs, self-alignment of the Fermi level in Au nanoparticles leading to efficient electron transfer to hydrogen reduction, and optical absorption enhancement in the nanowires by the plasmonic properties of nanoparticles. Conversion and external quantum efficiencies of 5·3% and 11·3% are demonstrated under 470 nm excitation for the first hour of photolysis, respectively.
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