Multi-electron redox reactions, although central to artificial photosynthesis, are kinetically sluggish. Amidst the search for synthetic catalysts for such processes, plasmonic nanoparticles have been found to catalyse multi-electron reduction of CO under visible light. This example motivates the need for a general, insight-driven framework for plasmonic catalysis of such multi-electron chemistry. Here, we elucidate the principles underlying the extraction of multiple redox equivalents from a plasmonic photocatalyst. We measure the kinetics of electron harvesting from a gold nanoparticle photocatalyst as a function of photon flux. Our measurements, supported by theoretical modelling, reveal a regime where two-electron transfer from the excited gold nanoparticle becomes prevalent. Multiple electron harvesting becomes possible under continuous-wave, visible-light excitation of moderate intensity due to strong interband transitions in gold and electron-hole separation accomplished using a hole scavenger. These insights will help expand the utility of plasmonic photocatalysis beyond CO reduction to other challenging multi-electron, multi-proton transformations such as N fixation.

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The realization of common materials transformations in nanocrystalline systems is fostering the development of novel nanostructures and allowing a deep look into the atomistic mechanisms involved. Galvanic corrosion is one such transformation. We studied galvanic replacement within individual metal nanoparticles by using a combination of plasmonic spectroscopy and scanning transmission electron microscopy. Single-nanoparticle reaction trajectories showed that a Ag nanoparticle exposed to Au³⁺ makes an abrupt transition into a nanocage structure. The transition is limited by a critical structural event, which we identified by electron microscopy to comprise the formation of a nanosized void. Trajectories also revealed a surprisingly strong nonlinearity of the reaction kinetics, which we explain by a model involving the critical coalescence of vacancies into a growing void. The critical void size for galvanic exchange to spontaneously proceed was found to be 20 atomic vacancies.

These data demonstrate that 4% nicotinamide gel is of comparable efficacy to 1% clindamycin gel in the treatment of acne vulgaris. Because topical clindamycin, like other antimicrobials, is associated with emergence of resistant microorganisms, nicotinamide gel is a desirable alternative treatment for acne vulgaris.

Co-operativity is a remarkable phenomenon mostly seen in biology, where initial reaction events significantly alter the propensity of subsequent reaction events, giving rise to a nonlinear tightly regulated synergistic response. Here we have found unique evidence of atomic level co-operativity in an inorganic material. A thousand-atom nanocrystal (NC) of the inorganic solid cadmium selenide exhibits strong positive co-operativity in its reaction with copper ions. A NC doped with a few copper impurities becomes highly prone to be doped even further, driving an abrupt transition of the entire NC to the copper selenide phase, as manifested by a strongly sigmoidal response in optical spectroscopy and electron diffraction measurements. The examples presented here suggest that cooperative phenomena may have an important role in the solid state, especially in the nucleation of new chemical phases, crystal growth, and other materials' transformations.

Transition metal nanoparticles, including those employed in catalytic, electrocatalytic, and photocatalytic conversions, have surfaces that are typically coated with a layer of short or long-chain ligands. There is little systematic understanding of how much this ligand layer affects the reactivity of the underlying surface. We show for Ag nanoparticles that a surface-adsorbed thiol layer greatly impedes the kinetics of an ionic chemical reaction taking place on the Ag surface. The model reaction studied is the galvanic exchange of Ag with Au(3+) ions, the kinetics of which is measured on individual thiol-coated nanoparticles using in situ optical scattering spectroscopy. We observe a systematic lowering of the reactivity of the nanoparticle as the chain length of the thiol is increased, from which we deduce that the ligand layer serves as an energy barrier to the transport of incoming/outgoing reactive ions. This barrier effect can be decreased by light irradiation, resulting from weakened binding of the thiol layer to the metal surface. We find that the influence of the surface ligand layer on reactivity is much stronger than factors such as nanoparticle size, shape, or crystallinity. These findings provide improved understanding of the role of ligand or adsorbates in colloidal catalysis and photocatalysis and have important implications for the transport of reactants and ions to surfaces and for engineering the reactivity of nanoparticles using surface passivation.