Issue 4, 2021

Surface chemistry of quantum-sized metal nanoparticles under light illumination

Abstract

Size reduction of metal nanoparticles increases the exposure of metal surfaces significantly, favoring heterogeneous chemistry at the surface of the nanoparticles. The optical properties of metal nanoparticles, such as light absorption, also exhibit a strong dependence on their size. It is expected that there will be strong coupling of light absorption and surface chemistry when the metal nanoparticles are small enough. For instance, metal nanoparticles with sizes in the range of 2–10 nm exhibit both surface plasmon resonances, which can efficiently produce high-energy hot electrons near the surface of the nanoparticles under light illumination, and the Coulomb blockade effect, which favors electron transfer from the metal nanoparticles to the surface adsorbates. The synergy of efficient hot electron generation and electron transfer on the surface of small metal nanoparticles leads to double-faced effects: (i) surface (adsorption) chemistry influences optical absorption in the metal nanoparticles, and (ii) optical absorption in the metal nanoparticles promotes (or inhibits) surface adsorption and heterogeneous chemistry. This review article focuses on the discussion of typical quantum phenomena in metal nanoparticles of 2–10 nm in size, which are referred to as “quantum-sized metal nanoparticles”. Both theoretical and experimental examples and results are summarized to highlight the strong correlations between the optical absorption and surface chemistry for quantum-sized metal nanoparticles of various compositions. A comprehensive understanding of these correlations may shed light on achieving high-efficiency photocatalysis and photonics.

Graphical abstract: Surface chemistry of quantum-sized metal nanoparticles under light illumination

Article information

Article type
Review Article
Submitted
24 Aug 2020
Accepted
15 Nov 2020
First published
15 Dec 2020
This article is Open Access

All publication charges for this article have been paid for by the Royal Society of Chemistry
Creative Commons BY license

Chem. Sci., 2021,12, 1227-1239

Surface chemistry of quantum-sized metal nanoparticles under light illumination

S. Stewart, Q. Wei and Y. Sun, Chem. Sci., 2021, 12, 1227 DOI: 10.1039/D0SC04651E

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications without requesting further permissions from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given.

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