The
surface plasmon resonance (SPR) effect of oxygen-deficient
WO3–x
has been utilized for photocatalysis
in the literature. A unique feature of WO3–x
is that its plasmonic peak can be adjusted to the visible
light range, which is close to that of typical plasmonic metals like
Au. In this work, we have demonstrated the coupling effect of the
SPR of WO3–x
and Au can significantly
alter the photocatalytic activity toward the gas phase nonoxidative
methane coupling reaction in terms of the C2 product rate
and selectivity. A photocatalyst composed of Au and WO3–x
nanoparticles of comparable size is prepared by
the simple Pechini method and thermal reduction in a H2 containing atmosphere. The SPR of Au can mainly promote C2H6 production, while the SPR of WO3–x
can mainly increase the selectivity to C2H4. Combining two such strategies can give a composite
photocatalyst with a higher C2 production rate and almost
100% selectivity to C2H4 under visible light.
Detailed characterization reveals that the coupling of Au and WO3–x
can effectively prolong the charge
lifetime and the charge generation rate, and improves the hydrogen
evolution activity, which results in much higher photocatalytic activity.
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