Enhancing hot electron generation and injection with plasmonic nanostructures

Constructing plasmonic-semiconductor nanoarchitecture provides a photocatalytic platform for enhancing solar energy conversion. The excitation and extraction of energetic carriers are critical improving efficiency, which can be affected by the geometric features plasmonic structures. An extensive study on morphology dependent hot electron utilization is desirable but challenging. In this paper, we applied photocurrent response from microscale reaction region Au-TiO2 photoanode to evaluate influence in water splitting. We compared two structures, gold nanospheres nanorods, under visible illumination. experimentally proved that nanorods demonstrate better performance. possible origins enhancement ascribed sharp curvature at tips, where strong spots boost generation injection efficiency electrons. These results may pave way rational geometry design enhanced photocatalysis.