Crystallographic interface control of the plasmonic photocatalyst consisting of gold nanoparticles and titanium(iv) oxide

Abstract

A big question in the field of plasmonic photocatalysis is why a typical photocatalyst consisting of gold nanoparticles and rutile titanium(IV) oxide (Au/R-TiO₂) usually exhibits activity much higher than that of Au/anatase TiO₂ (Au/A-TiO₂) under visible-light irradiation. Shedding light on the origin should present important guidelines for the material design of plasmonic photocatalysts. Au nanoparticles (NPs) were loaded on ordinary irregular-shaped TiO₂ particles by the conventional deposition precipitation method. Transmission electron microscopy analyses for the Au/TiO₂ particles ascertain that faceting of Au NPs is induced on R-TiO₂ by using a domain-matching epitaxial junction with the orientation of (111)_Au//(110)_R-TiO2, whereas non-faceted hemispherical Au NPs are exclusively formed on A-TiO₂. The faceting probability of Au NPs (P_f) on R-TiO₂ increases with decreasing Au particle size (d_Au) to reach 14% at d_Au = 3.6 nm. A clear positive correlation between the photocatalytic activity and P_f in several test reactions indicates that the heteroepitaxial junction-induced faceting of Au NPs is the principal factor for governing the plasmonic photocatalytic activity of Au/TiO₂. In light of this finding, R-TiO₂ nanorods with a high percentage (95%) of {110} facets were hydrothermally synthesized and used for the support of Au NPs. Consequently, the P_f value increases to as much as 94% to enhance the photocatalytic activity with respect to that of Au/R-TiO₂ with P_f = 14% by factors of 2.2–4.4 depending on the type of reaction.