Room-Temperature and Aqueous-Phase Synthesis of Plasmonic Molybdenum Oxide Nanoparticles for Visible-Light-Enhanced Hydrogen Generation

Jiayuan Shi; Yasutaka Kuwahara; Meicheng Wen; Miriam Navlani-García; Kohsuke Mori; Taicheng An; Hiromi Yamashita

doi:10.1002/asia.201600771

Room-Temperature and Aqueous-Phase Synthesis of Plasmonic Molybdenum Oxide Nanoparticles for Visible-Light-Enhanced Hydrogen Generation

Chem Asian J. 2016 Sep 6;11(17):2377-81. doi: 10.1002/asia.201600771. Epub 2016 Aug 24.

Authors

Jiayuan Shi^{1

2}, Yasutaka Kuwahara^{1

3}, Meicheng Wen¹, Miriam Navlani-García¹, Kohsuke Mori^{1

3}, Taicheng An^{2

4}, Hiromi Yamashita^{5

6}

Affiliations

¹ Graduate School of Engineering, Osaka University, Osaka, 565-0871, Japan.
² State Key Laboratory of Organic Geochemistry and Guangdong Key Laboratory of Environmental Protection and Resources Utilization, Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, 510640, China.
³ Unit of Elements Strategy Initiative for Catalysts & Batteries (ESICB), Kyoto University, Katsura, Kyoto, 615-8520, Japan.
⁴ School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Guangdong University of Technology, Guangzhou, 510006, China.
⁵ Graduate School of Engineering, Osaka University, Osaka, 565-0871, Japan. yamashita@mat.eng.osaka-u.ac.jp.
⁶ Unit of Elements Strategy Initiative for Catalysts & Batteries (ESICB), Kyoto University, Katsura, Kyoto, 615-8520, Japan. yamashita@mat.eng.osaka-u.ac.jp.

PMID: 27555123
DOI: 10.1002/asia.201600771

Abstract

A straightforward aqueous synthesis of MoO3-x nanoparticles at room temperature was developed by using (NH4 )6 Mo7 O24 ⋅4 H2 O and MoCl5 as precursors in the absence of reductants, inert gas, and organic solvents. SEM and TEM images indicate the as-prepared products are nanoparticles with diameters of 90-180 nm. The diffuse reflectance UV-visible-near-IR spectra of the samples indicate localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) properties generated by the introduction of oxygen vacancies. Owing to its strong plasmonic absorption in the visible-light and near-infrared region, such nanostructures exhibit an enhancement of activity toward visible-light catalytic hydrogen generation. MoO3-x nanoparticles synthesized with a molar ratio of Mo(VI) /Mo(V) 1:1 show the highest yield of H2 evolution. The cycling catalytic performance has been investigated to indicate the structural and chemical stability of the as-prepared plasmonic MoO3-x nanoparticles, which reveals its potential application in visible-light catalytic hydrogen production.

Keywords: green chemistry; molybdenum oxide; nanoparticles; photochemistry; surface plasmon resonance.