Enhanced full-spectrum water splitting by confining plasmonic Au nanoparticles in N-doped TiO2 bowl nanoarrays

Integration of surface plasmon into photocatalysis has been of great interest, as it may extend the spectral range of light absorption towards full solar spectrum. In this communication, we have developed a facile surfactant-free nanofabrication approach to confine dense Au nanoparticles in N-doped TiO2 bowl nanoarrays. By tuning the light absorption of TiO2 to sufficiently overlap the plasmonic band of Au nanoparticles, the utilization of plasmonics in charge generation and separation by resonant energy transfer is well synergized with the Schottky junction for enhanced photocatalytic water splitting, achieving H-2 production rates of 637 mu mol g(-1) h(-1) in full spectrum and 132 mu mol g(-1) h(-1) in visible region, respectively. This work represents a step towards large-scale photocatalyst fabrication and full spectrum photocatalysis, and opens a new window to rationally designing hybrid structures for photocatalysis. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.