Accelerated pyro-catalytic hydrogen production enabled by plasmonic local heating of Au on pyroelectric BaTiO3 nanoparticles

Abstract

The greatest challenge that limits the application of pyro-catalytic materials is the lack of highly frequent thermal cycling due to the enormous heat capacity of ambient environment, resulting in low pyro-catalytic efficiency. Here, we introduce localized plasmonic heat sources to rapidly yet efficiently heat up pyro-catalytic material itself without wasting energy to raise the surrounding temperature, triggering a significantly expedited pyro-catalytic reaction and enabling multiple pyro-catalytic cycling per unit time. In our work, plasmonic metal/pyro-catalyst composite is fabricated by in situ grown gold nanoparticles on three-dimensional structured coral-like BaTiO3 nanoparticles, which achieves a high hydrogen production rate of 133.1 ± 4.4 μmol·g−1·h−1 under pulsed laser irradiation. We also use theoretical analysis to study the effect of plasmonic local heating on pyro-catalysis. The synergy between plasmonic local heating and pyro-catalysis will bring new opportunities in pyro-catalysis for pollutant treatment, clean energy production, and biological applications.

High‐Efficiency Reactive Oxygen Species Generation by Multiphase and TiO6 Distortion‐Mediated Superior Piezocatalysis in Perovskite Ferroelectrics

“…The VBM can be estimated by: $$\[ \begin{array}{*{20}{c}}{{\rm{VBM}} = h\nu - \left( {{E_{{\rm{cut - off}}}} - {E_{{\rm{low - binding}}}}} \right)}\end{array} \]$$where hν is photon energy (21.22 eV). [ 29 ] According to the UV–vis absorption spectra (Figure 8f; Figure S14, Supporting Information), The BT and BCTZ 7 show similar absorption characteristic in the ultraviolet region with the threshold at the wavelength of ≈400 nm. Then, the bandgap value is obtained by the Kubelka–Munk equation: [ 30 ] $$\[ \begin{array}{*{20}{c}}{{{\left( {\alpha hv} \right)}^{1/2}} = A\left( {hv - {E_{\rm{g}}}} \right)}\end{array} \]$$where α, h , and ν represent the absorption coefficient, Planck's constant, and the frequency of incident light, respectively.…”

“…where hν is photon energy (21.22 eV). [29] According to the UV-vis absorption spectra (Figure 8f; Figure S14, Supporting Information), The BT and BCTZ 7 show similar absorption characteristic in the ultraviolet region with the threshold at the wavelength of ≈400 nm. Then, the bandgap value is obtained by the Kubelka-Munk equation: [30] 1/2 g hv A hv E α ( )…”

Oxygen vacancy redistribution and ferroelectric polarization relaxation on epitaxial perovskite films during an electrocatalytic process

“…4–6 Additionally, ferroelectric materials with pyroelectric properties could generate localized heat through thermoplastic nanostructures for pyro-catalysis. 7,8…”

Pyroelectric catalytic performance of Sm3+-modified Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3–PbTiO3 for organic dyes: degradation efficiency, kinetics and pyroelectric catalytic mechanism

“…In recent years, people have paid attention to pyroelectric catalytic reactions. Pyroelectric materials can generate positive and negative charges under differential-temperature conditions, directly converting thermal energy into electrical or chemical energy, 21–23 which can then be used for catalytic reactions. 24 When the temperature changes, the polarization intensity and the polarization charge density of the material surface change.…”

“…It can be seen from the equation that the amount of charge generation increases as Δ T increases, thus enhancing the pyroelectric catalytic performance. 22 Many pyroelectric materials, such as ZnO, BaTiO 3 , PMN, PST and PbTiO 3 , exhibit significant pyroelectric effects. 26,27 Nowadays, pyroelectric catalysts have been applied to catalyze hydrogen precipitation, 13 activate anti-tumor immunity, 28 and degrade organic dyes 29,30 under cold–hot cycles.…”