Photocatalytic Degradation of Water Pollutants and Pesticides Using Plasmon‐Molecule Coupled Gold‐BODIPY Nanoparticles

Abstract

Development of effective and sustainable water treatment processes is the need‐of‐the‐hour for addressing the global water crisis. Here, we report the synthesis of a plasmon‐molecule coupled nanocomposite (NC) and its photosensitization properties in solution and on thin films. Our results indicate that the thin films exhibit excellent stability at different temperatures and pH conditions and that the plasmonic photoexcitations result in efficient generation of singlet oxygen. The thin film serves as a heterogeneous photocatalyst for the degradation of a variety of water pollutants and pesticides. This approach thus offers a low‐cost, environmental friendly and singlet oxygen mediated photocatalytic solution for degrading organic contaminants.