Interfacial insights into 3D plasmonic multijunction nanoarchitecture toward efficient photocatalytic performance

Through effectively harvesting and converting solar energy, photocatalysis has become one of the most important technologies in wastewater decontamination and hydrogen production. Currently, extensive studies are being conducted to develop photocatalysts with advanced features, such as visible-light response, heterogeneous nanoarchitecture, plasmonic effect, and excellent optical behavior. Finding efficient utilization technique to improve photocatalytic performance motivates researchers all over the world. Herein, we demonstrate the design of a visible-light-driven Pd/Fe2O3/BiVO4 hybrid with 3D ordered macro-/mesoporous (3DOM) nanoarchitecture for efficiently photocatalytic organic degradation and photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting. The hybrid photocatalyst exhibited two-tier bandgap energies and possessed enhanced ability to harvest visible light and separate photo-induced carriers. It is shown that, over the Pd/Fe2O3/3DOM-BiVO4 photocatalyst, not only the refractory phenol could be rapidly degraded into CO2 and H2O, but also the photoconversion efficiency was greatly improved in water splitting to generate H-2. The excellent photocatalytic performance of Pd/Fe2O3/BiVO4 was associated with the construction of low-crystalline plasmonic heterointerfaces through the 3DOM framework. The produced synergistic action enabled the hybrid material to absorb the sunlight adequately and transfer the photoexcited carriers expediently to drive phenol degradation or hydrogen evolution from water. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.