Photocatalytic Activity Enhanced by Plasmonic Resonant Energy Transfer from Metal to Semiconductor

Plasmonic metal nanostructures have been incorporated into semiconductors to enhance the solar-light harvesting and the energy-conversion efficiency. So far the mechanism of energy transfer from the plasmonic metal to semiconductors remains unclear. Herein the underlying plasmonic energy-transfer mechanism is unambiguously determined in Au@SiO2@Cu2O sandwich nanostructures by transient-absorption and photocatalysis action spectrum measurement. The gold core converts the energy of incident photons into localized surface plasmon resonance oscillations and transfers the plasmonic energy to the Cu2O semiconductor shell via resonant energy transfer (RET). RET generates electron hole pairs in the semiconductor by the dipole dipole interaction between the plasmonic metal (donor) and semiconductor (acceptor), which greatly enhances the visible-light photocatalytic activity as compared to the semiconductor alone. RET from a plasmonic metal to a semiconductor is a viable and efficient mechanism that can be used to guide the design of photocatalysts, photovoltaics, and other optoelectronic devices.