Nanoplasmonic Photoluminescence Spectroscopy at Single‐Particle Level: Sensing for Ethanol Oxidation

Abstract

Surface plasmon resonances of metal nanoparticles have shown significant promise for the use of solar energy to drive catalytic chemical reactions. More importantly, understanding and monitoring such catalytic reactions at single-nanoparticle level is crucial for the study of local reaction processes. Herein, using plasmonic photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy, we describe a novel sensing method for catalytic ethanol oxidation reactions at the single-nanoparticle level. The Au nanorod monitors the interfacial interaction with ethanol during the catalytic reaction through the PL intensity changes in the single-particle PL spectra. The analysis of energy relaxation of excited electron-hole pairs indicates the relationship between the PL quenching and ethanol oxidation reaction on the single Au nanorod.

Fast Surface Restructuring within the Gap of Au Nanocube Dimer for the Enhancement of Catalytic Efficiency

“…Nanoparticles with excellent catalytic properties have attracted considerable attention in many important chemical transformations, including oxidation of hydrocarbons, cross coupling and hydrogenationdehydrogenation. [1][2][3][4][5][6] Great efforts have been made to correlate the structure and catalytic property and modulate the catalytic activities. [7][8][9] With advanced transmission electron microscopy (TEM), 10 scanning probe microscopy (SPM), and atomic force microscopy (AFM), the structure of nanoparticle can be characterized at the single-particle level with nanometer resolution.…”

“…Moreover, owing to the flat surface, it is often used as a building block for functional nanostructure assembly such as nanocube dimer, where strongly enhanced EM field exists within the nanogap. 10,29 So far, localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) has been determined as a robust property to promote the plasmonic catalysis, 1,8 which can generate strong EM field localized around the nanoparticle and confine or focus EM energy in the near-field. 4,16 This surface plasmon (SP)enhanced phenomenon opens a new opportunity to promote catalytic conversions by generating highly energetic electrons, i.e., hot electrons.…”

Faster Electron Injection and More Active Sites for Efficient Photocatalytic H2 Evolution in g‐C3N4/MoS2 Hybrid

“…For the semiconductor‐cocatalyst hybrids, single‐particle photoluminescence spectroscopy (SPS) and femtosecond time‐resolved transient absorption (fs‐TAS) play significant roles in understanding fundamental photophysical processes and how charge transfer dictates photoactivities. SPS is often used to measure the structural, photochemical characters and radiative recombinations owing to its high sensitivity, nondestructive character, and spatial resolution . Importantly, this measurement allows us to monitor the properties of individual nanostructure.…”

Increased Intraband Transitions in Smaller Gold Nanorods Enhance Light Emission

“…P lasmonic nanoparticles have attracted significant attention in recent years because of their broad range of applications in sensing, 1−3 imaging, 4,5 nanothermometry, 6−8 photocatalysis, 9,10 and photocurrent generation. 11,12 The latter two applications rely on the generation of hot electrons and holes following photoexcitation.…”

“…Plasmonic nanoparticles have attracted significant attention in recent years because of their broad range of applications in sensing, − imaging, , nanothermometry, − photocatalysis, , and photocurrent generation. , The latter two applications rely on the generation of hot electrons and holes following photoexcitation. Distinct properties of hot electrons and holes have enabled different chemical processes: high-energy hot electrons can induce bond dissociation reactions, , and hot holes can lead to oxidation. − Despite the recent progress, an improved understanding of how the distributions of hot electrons and holes evolve is still necessary and would enable the rational design of more efficient hot carrier-based devices. − …”