Semiconducting Metal Oxide Photonic Crystal Plasmonic Photocatalysts

Abstract

Plasmonic photocatalysis has facilitated rapid progress in enhancing photocatalytic efficiency under visible light irradiation. Poor visible-light-responsive photocatalytic materials and low photocatalytic efficiency remain major challenges. Plasmonic metal-semiconductor heterostructures where both the metal and semiconductor are photosensitive are promising for light harvesting catalysis, as both components can absorb solar light. Efficiency of photon capture can be further improved by structuring the catalyst as a photonic crystal. Here we report the synthesis of photonic crystal plasmonic photocatalyst materials using Au nanoparticlefunctionalized inverse opal (IO) photonic crystals. A catalyst prepared using a visible light responsive semiconductor (V2O5) displayed over an order of magnitude increase in reaction rate under green light excitation (=532 nm) compared to no illumination. The superior performance of Au-V2O5 IO was attributed to spectral overlap of the electronic band gap, localized surface plasmon resonance and incident light source.Comparing the photocatalytic performance of Au-V2O5 IO with a conventional Au-TiO2 IO catalyst, where the semiconductor band gap is in the UV, revealed that optimal photocatalytic activity is observed under different illumination conditions depending on the nature of the semiconductor. For the Au-TiO2 catalyst, despite coupling of the LSPR and excitation source at =532 nm, this was not as effective in enhancing photocatalytic activity compared to carrying out the reaction under broadband visible light, which is attributed to improved photon adsorption in the visible by the presence of a photonic band gap, and exploiting slow light in the photonic crystal to enhance photon absorption to create this synergistic type of photocatalyst.

Oxide-based composites: applications in thermo-photocatalysis

“…Even more interesting for our purposes is the application of WO3-x combined with other oxides, and other semiconductors or insulators in thermo-photo catalysis [52][53][54][55][56] , which represents a promising alternative to decrease the use of noble materials. Following this strategy, in the past few years, different systems have been designed to test the catalytic potential of the LSPR effect [57][58][59] . Among tungsten-based oxide-oxide heterostructures, the combination with TiO2 is profusely analyzed.…”

Recent Advances in Preparation and Applications of 3D Transition Metal Oxides Semiconductor Photonic Crystal

“…Photocatalysis is considered as a potential way to degrade environmental pollutants. [98][99][100][101][102][103][104][105] TMO is a kind of commonly used photocatalyst, and 3D PhC has a periodic nanostructure, which can modulate the light. The 3D TMOPC prepared by combining 3D PhC with TMO can improve the efficiency of photocatalysis due to its exposed active site and the sufficiently large surface area, which are achieved by the use of porous structure.…”

“…The 3D TMOPC prepared by combining 3D PhC with TMO can improve the efficiency of photocatalysis due to its exposed active site and the sufficiently large surface area, which are achieved by the use of porous structure. [105][106][107][108][109] In addition, the slow light effect of 3D PhC can improve the . Reproduced with permission.…”

Recent Advances in Opal/Inverted Opal Photonic Crystal Photocatalysts

“…[ 43–48 ] These nanostructures feature an interconnected network, which significantly improves the photocatalytic activity by enhancing molecular diffusion kinetics and increases the accessible surface area and the amount of adsorption and reactive sites. [ 49–56 ]…”