Enhanced Photoactivity and Hydrogen Generation of LaFeO₃ Photocathode by Plasmonic Silver Nanoparticle Incorporation

Abstract

A plasmonic LaFeO 3 -Ag (LFO-Ag) photocathode was synthesised by incorporating Ag nanoparticles to excite surface plasmon resonances (SPR) for enhanced light harvesting to drive photoelectrochemical (PEC) hydrogen evolution. The Ag nanoparticles were modelled using finite difference time domain (FDTD) simulations and the results show an optimal dimension of 50-80 nm for SPR enhancement. Nanostructured LFO films were prepared by a novel and inexpensive spray pyrolysis method and the Ag nanoparticles were dispersed uniformly on to the films by simple spin coating method. The LFO-Ag photocathode exhibited strong light absorption capability and high current density, twice that than of its untreated counterpart. This subsequently led to enhanced PEC hydrogen evolution, doubling the volume of hydrogen generated compared to untreated LFO. The enhancement is ascribed to the strong SPR effect and the synergy between the Ag nanoparticles and nanostructured LFO photocathode.

Heterostructured thin LaFeO3/g-C3N4 films for efficient photoelectrochemical hydrogen evolution

“…Most water splitting studies were conducted using wide bandgap semiconductors like TiO 2 or ZnO that can only be activated by UV light [11,12]. In recent years, intensive efforts were devoted to the extension of TiO 2 or ZnO visible light absorption and to the improvement of their photocatalytic properties via doping or building heterostructured catalysts in which the separation of charge carriers is improved [13][14][15] Recently, lanthanum ferrite perovskite (LaFeO 3 ) has attracted a great attention [16][17][18][19][20][21], with applications in sensors [22], catalysts [23] and monitoring [24] due to its good chemical and thermal stability and its low toxicity. Moreover, LaFeO 3 has an advantageous optical bandgap, up to 2.1 eV, allowing the absorption of visible light until 590 nm.…”

Plasmonic enhancement of betanin-lawsone co-sensitized solar cells via tailored bimodal size distribution of silver nanoparticles

“…The present study examines the efficiency enhancement of a betanin-lawsone co-sensitized solar cell by the plasmonic route. The plasmonic route of efficiency enhancement has been explored in various solar cells 32,33 , hydrogen splitting 34 but not extensively explored for augmenting the efficiency of NDSSCs. The solar cell uses a blend of two natural plant-based dyes: betanin and lawsone, harvesting electromagnetic radiation in the green and blue wavelength range respectively, of the solar spectrum.…”

Research progress on methane conversion coupling photocatalysis and thermocatalysis

“…Different types of metals and their shape, size, and local coordination environment lead to a different response wavelength of LSPR. 90,[145][146][147][148][149] Hot carriers will be excited on the surface of metal nanostructure under the specific wavelength light excitation, which correspondingly influences the reaction rates. [150][151][152][153][154][155][156][157] The study on Pt-Au catalyst system under UV and visible light irradiation condition exhibits that the CH 4 conversion rate of Pt-Au/SiO 2 catalyst is increased to 53 μmol • g −1 • min −1 , about 2.4 times higher than that of sole thermocatalytic conditions.…”