Plasmon mediated photoelectrochemical transformations: The example of para-aminothiophenol

Plasmonic metal nanomaterials (PMNMs) have been targeted as noble photocatalysts in various energy related applications because of their strong surface plasmon resonance (SPR). It has been recently revealed that, these PMNMs on photoexcitation can induce the efficient hot carriers (hot electron/hole) transfer to the targeted molecules which is essential for the rate-limited process of photocatalysis. The profound understanding of reaction mechanisms is in need for the development of novel plasmonic catalysts towards chemical transformations of targeted molecules at PMNMs modified electrodes. The two diversely unique properties of electric field and electromagnetic field co-occur with different nanostructures in electrochemical surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (EC-SERS) systems. Further, the EC-SERS experiments and their applications are deliberated from the construction of PMNMs coated electrodes for studying the SERS mechanisms and characterization of adsorption configuration and photoelectrochemical reaction mechanisms of targeted species. In this review, the recent investigation of the plasmon mediated photoelectrochemical transformation of para-aminothiophenol (PATP) at PMNMs modified electrodes will be discussed using EC-SERS method and theoretical calculations. The influence of applied potential, solution pH, and applied laser light power for binding and transformation of PATP at PMNMs will be discussed in detail. Ultimately, summary and future prospective of this study have been discussed briefly. (C) 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.