Plasmonic Photocatalysis: Activating Chemical Bonds through Light and Plasmon

Abstract

Scheme 1. A schematic representation of the different classes of chemical transformations solely photocatalyzed by plasmonic NPs.

When Design Meets Function: The Prodigious Role of Surface Ligands in Regulating Nanoparticle Chemistry

“…With the availability of in situ characterization techniques, it will be interesting to monitor the real-time dynamics of the catalytic reactions dictated by surface ligands. 90 Also, the combination of theoretical and experimental studies can provide new insights into the ligand effects in catalysis. We envision that the area of ligand "gated" NP catalysis holds immense opportunities as well as challenges, which should be investigated in detail.…”

“…Catalysis can undoubtedly revolutionize the global economy by achieving some of the key targets of modern interest such as clean water, clean energy, and sustainable food supplies. , At the core of any catalysis lies the favorable and tunable catalyst–reactant interactions that are crucial to achieving high yield and desired product selectivity. − Among many materials developed so far, plasmonic NPs have cemented a special place in catalysis because of their unique optoelectronic properties such as high surface-to-volume ratio, large absorption cross-section, and high charge density. − On top of this, the ligands on the surface of NPs can bring various interparticle forces into action (Scheme ), which can directly regulate the catalyst–reactant interactions. However, there is a fundamental challenge here.…”

“…Thus, the prospect of ligand “gated” NP catalysis is promising and should be tested in catalyzing fundamentally important and industrially challenging chemical transformations. With the availability of in situ characterization techniques, it will be interesting to monitor the real-time dynamics of the catalytic reactions dictated by surface ligands . Also, the combination of theoretical and experimental studies can provide new insights into the ligand effects in catalysis.…”

Mini AuAg Wavy Nanorods Displaying Plasmon‐Induced Photothermal and Photocatalytic Properties

“…In our case, the NIR plasmonic-assisted reduction of 4-nitrostyrene would arise from the surface plasmon decay generation of hot electrons on the AuAg wNRs surface, although photothermal contributions via localized wNRs surface temperature increase cannot be ruled out. [45,46] At this point, it is important to highlight that bare gold NR-enabled photocatalysis is a relatively rare phenomena, [1,47] being gold-NR/semiconductor systems much more common. Indeed, the AuAg wNRs system is competitive in the selective reduction of 4-aminostyrene to aminostyrene with more complex heterostructurated systems such as 1) Cu NPs deposited on carbon quantum dots (CDs) that act as photocatalyst in this reaction under visible light; [48] 2) Cu 3 P-CDs-Cu multicomponent photocatalytic system, which achieves a high selectivity in the reduction of 4-nitrostyrene to 4-aminostyrene in short times; [49] or 3) platinum clusters deposited on Bi 2 MoO 6 nanosheet surfaces that produce a 100% selectivity for this reduction and a complete conversion in the presence of visible light.…”

Design and Simulation of Broadband Horn Nanoantennas for Nanophotonic Applications

“…As an emerging technology, nanoplasmonics has profoundly impacted the performance of several promising research projects, bringing new and exciting challenges in modern science [4]. Among the several recent applications of nanoplasmonics, the following stand out: plasmonic biosensors [5]- [10]; plasmonic photocalysis [11]- [13]; plasmonic devices such as photodetectors [14]- [16]; and lasers [17] and [18].…”