Harvesting abundant and renewable sunlight in energy production and environmental remediation is an emerging research topic. Indeed, research on solar-driven heterogeneous photocatalysis based on surface plasmon resonance has seen rapid growth and potentially opens a technologically promising avenue that can benefit the sustainable development of global energy and the environment. This review briefly summarizes recent advances in the synthesis and photocatalytic properties of plasmonic composites (e.g., hybrid structures) formed by noble metal (e.g., gold, silver) nanoparticles dispersed on a variety of substrates that are composed of metal oxides, silver halides, graphene oxide, among others. Brief introduction of surface plasmon resonance and the synthesis of noble metal-based composites are given, followed by highlighting diverse applications of plasmonic photocatalysts in mineralization of organic pollutants, organic synthesis and water splitting. Insights into surface plasmon resonancemediated photocatalysis not only impact the basic science of heterogeneous photocatalysis, but generate new concepts guiding practical technologies such as wastewater treatment, air purification, selective oxidation reactions, selective reduction reactions, and solar-to-hydrogen energy conversion in an energy efficient and environmentally benign approach. This review ends with a summary and perspectives.

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Ag(3)PO(4) spherical particles were synthesized by a facile precipitation method using silver nitrate and Na(2) HPO(4) as precursors. The as-prepared samples had a high photocatalytic activity toward Rhodamine B (RhB) degradation under visible-light illumination. With increasing recycling times the photocatalytic activity first increased and then decreased. Based on systematic characterization of particles by X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), UV/Vis absorption spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM), a possible mechanism responsible for the improvement and subsequent decline of the photocatalytic performance of Ag(3)PO(4) is proposed. Ag(3)PO(4) spherical particles recycled for four times showed the highest photocatalytic activity because, according to our mechanism, Ag nanoparticles deposited on Ag(3)PO(4) acted as electron trapping centers to prevent photogenerated electron-hole pairs from recombination. A further increase in the recycle times decreases the photocatalytic activity owing to the shielding effect by Ag layers on the surface of Ag(3)PO(4). The results presented herein shed new light on the photostability of Ag(3) PO(4) spherical particles and are potentially applicable to other photocatalytically active composites.

No nationwide studies have examined the associations between mortality risk and PM 1 (PM with an aerodynamic diameter of <1 μm) due to the scarcity of monitoring data of PM 1 . On the basis of newly released national scale PM 1 data, we performed a time series analysis to elucidate the cause-specific mortality risk caused by PM 1 exposure in China. During the period from January 2014 to December 2017, the PM 1 levels in 65 cities of China were on average 37 ± 32 μg/m 3 . Pooled results indicated a 10 μg/m 3 increase in the PM 1 level was associated with a 0.19% [95% confidence interval (CI) of 0.09−0.28%] increased risk in nonaccidental mortality, which was almost the same as that for PM 2.5 (0.18%, 95% CI of 0.08−0.27%) and PM 10 (0.17%, 95% CI of 0.01−0.24%). By comparison, the magnitude increased to 0.29% (0.12−0.47%) in cardiovascular disease for each 10 μg/m 3 uptick in PM 1 , which was significantly higher than that related to PM 2.5 and PM 10 exposure. This nationwide study supported the notion that PM 1 may be a higher risk factor for cardiovascular disease, which suggests rapid action is warranted to put more effort into mitigating the emissions of finer particulate matters.

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