Seagrass-inspired design of soft photocatalytic sheets based on hydrogel-integrated free-standing 2D nanoassemblies of multifunctional nanohexagons

Abstract

Natural leaves are virtually two-dimensional (2D) flexible photocatalytic system. In particular, seagrass can efficiently harvest low-intensity sunlight to drive photochemical reactions continuously in an aqueous solution. To mimic this process, we present a novel 2D hydrogel-integrated photocatalytic sheet based on free-standing nanoassemblies of multifunctional nanohexagons (mNHs). The mNHs building blocks is made of plasmonic gold nanohexagons (NHs) decorated with Pd nanoparticles in the corners and CdS nanoparticles throughout their exposed surfaces. The mNHs can self-assemble into free-standing 2D nanoassemblies and be integrated with thin hydrogel films, which can catalyze chemical reactions under visible light illumination. Hydrogels are translucent, porous, and soft, allowing for continuous photochemical conversion in an aqueous environment. Using methylene blue (MB) as a model system, we demonstrate a soft seagrass-like photodegradation design, which offers high efficiency, continuous operation without the need of catalyst regeneration, and omnidirectional light-harvesting capability under low-intensity sunlight irradiation, defying their rigid substrate-supported random aggregates and solution-based discrete counterparts.