Plasma-Driven Photocatalysis Based on Gold Nanoporous Arrays.

Lisheng Zhang,Yiyuan Zhang,Duan Zhang,Xueyan Wang

doi:10.3390/nano11102710

Abstract

Various effects caused by surface plasmons including enhanced electromagnetic field, local heating, and excited electrons/holes can not only redistribute the electromagnetic field in the time domain and space but also redistribute the excited carriers and drive chemical reactions. In this study, firstly, an Au nanoporous array photocatalyst with the arrayed gauge was prepared by means of the anodic alumina template. Then, the formation of 4,4′-dimercaptoazobenzene (DMAB) by the surface plasmon-driven photocatalysis under 633 nm laser irradiation was investigated by means of Raman spectroscopy using aminothiophenol (PATP) as a probe molecule on gold nananoporous arrays. In addition, sodium borohydride was introduced in situ to realize the reverse photocatalytic reaction driven by the surface plasma. With the help of FDTD software, the plasma distribution characteristics on the surface of Au nanoporous arrays were simulated and analyzed. Through this practical method, it is expected to draw specific graphics, letters, and Chinese characters on the micro/nano scale, and realize the functions of graphics drawing, information encryption, reading, and erasing on the micro/nano scale.

Highlights

The Beijing Key Laboratory for Nano-Photonics and Nano-Structure, Department of Physics, Citation: Zhang, L.; Zhang, Y.; Wang, Abstract: Various effects caused by surface plasmons including enhanced electromagnetic field, local heating, and excited electrons/holes can redistribute the electromagnetic field in the time domain and space and redistribute the excited carriers and drive chemical reactions
In the experiment, the Raman characteristic peaks at 1084 cm−1 can be used to characterize the existence of PATP, and the Raman peaks at 1142, 1388, and 1440 cm−1 can be used to indicate the existence of DMAB
When the specific wavelength of the excitation light acted on the substrate, a large number of regularly arranged local surface plasmon enhancement regions were generated on its surface

Summary

Introduction

Since the discovery of SERS, the interest in SERS has been steadily growing and many other spectral techniques have been introduced These techniques utilize the enhanced local field generated by surface plasmon excitation to apply to optical phenomena such as fluorescence or nonlinearity [1,2,3,4,5,6]. The Raman signal enhancement of the probe molecules adsorbed on the metal nanostructures comes from two factors including the enhancement of the electromagnetic field on the metal surface and increase of charge transfer between the metal center and molecules. These two factors are attributed to the electromagnetic enhancement (EM). Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations

Methods

Results

Conclusion