Improved Visible-Light Activities of Rutile Nanorod by Comodifying Highly Dispersed Surface Plasmon Resonance Au Nanoparticles and HF Groups for Aerobic Selective Alcohol Oxidation

In this work, rutile nanorod comodified by highly dispersed surface plasmon resonance (SPR) Au nanoparticles (NPs) and HF groups exhibits remarkable visible-light activities for the benzyl alcohol oxidation conversion of 90% compared to that (25%) of the unmodified one and the high selectivity (>99%) at room temperature with O-2 as the oxidant. Based on the time-resolved surface photovoltage responses and O-2-temperature-programmed desorption curves, it is confirmed that the outstanding activity of comodified rutile nanorod is synergistically attributed to the large surface area of and the favored charge separation of as-synthesized nanorod, to the extended visible-light response and the promoted charge separation of deposited SPR Au NPs, and then to the promoted O-2 adsorption of modified HF groups. Moreover, it is suggested that the produced superoxide-type species is the main active oxygen species to dominate the conversion of benzyl alcohol (BA). Especially, the comodified rutile nanorod is more active for the visible-light oxidation of alcohol with the electron-donating group like methyl. This work has provided feasible design strategy for highly effective visible-light photocatalysts for elective aerobic organic oxidation and pollutant degradation.