Plasmonic coupling-boosted photothermal nanoreactor for efficient solar light-driven photocatalytic water splitting

Xinhai Sun; Zhouze Chen; Yu Shen; Jialin Lu; Yuxing Shi; Yanhua Cui; Feng Guo; Weilong Shi

doi:10.1016/j.jcis.2023.08.133

Plasmonic coupling-boosted photothermal nanoreactor for efficient solar light-driven photocatalytic water splitting

J Colloid Interface Sci. 2023 Dec 15;652(Pt A):1016-1027. doi: 10.1016/j.jcis.2023.08.133. Epub 2023 Aug 22.

Authors

Xinhai Sun¹, Zhouze Chen², Yu Shen¹, Jialin Lu¹, Yuxing Shi¹, Yanhua Cui², Feng Guo³, Weilong Shi⁴

Affiliations

¹ School of Energy and Power, Jiangsu University of Science and Technology, Zhenjiang, Jiangsu 212003, PR China.
² School of Material Science and Engineering, Jiangsu University of Science and Technology, Zhenjiang, Jiangsu 212003, PR China.
³ School of Energy and Power, Jiangsu University of Science and Technology, Zhenjiang, Jiangsu 212003, PR China. Electronic address: gfeng0105@126.com.
⁴ School of Material Science and Engineering, Jiangsu University of Science and Technology, Zhenjiang, Jiangsu 212003, PR China. Electronic address: shiwl@just.edu.cn.

PMID: 37639924
DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2023.08.133

Abstract

Photothermal nanoreactor with rapid charge transfer and improved spectral utilization is a key point in photocatalysis research. Herein, silver sulfide quantum dots (Ag₂S QDs) were coating on the surface of porous graphitic carbon nitride nano vesicles (PCNNVs) to form Ag₂S/PCNNVs nanoreactors by a simple calcination method for obtaining efficient photothermal-assisted photocatalytic hydrogen (H₂) evolution under simulated/real sunlight irradiation. In particularly, the as-prepared optimal 3% Ag₂S/PCNNVs sample exhibited the H₂ production rate of 34.8 mmol h^-1 g^-1, which was 3.5 times higher than that of bare PCNNVs. The enhancement of photothermal-assisted activity over the Ag₂S/PCNNVs composite system is mainly attributed to the coupling of the photothermal conversion performance of Ag₂S QDs and the thermal insulation performance of PCNNVs based on the plasmonic coupling-boosted photothermal nanoreactor. This study presents a promising strategy for the development of high-efficient photothermal-assisted photocatalysts.

Keywords: Nanoreactor; Photocatalytic; Photothermal-assisted; Plasmonic; Water splitting.