Enhanced photoelectrochemical water splitting by plasmonic Au nanostructures/reduced graphene oxide

Abstract

Plasmonic photocatalyst has attracted much attention since plasmonic nanostructures were demonstrated to increase the visible and/or infrared light activity of conventional semiconductor and further to improve the performance of the photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting. Here we utilized highly conductive reduced graphene oxide (RGO) nanosheets and gold nanotriangles (NTs) with remarkable localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) in the visible region to improve the photoresponse of TiO 2 branched nanorods (NRs), which were fabricated by a two-step hydrothermal grown method. Upon the concurrent addition of Au NTs and RGO, the photocurrent, which was measured by three-electrode PEC reactor under illumination of simulated solar light, showed a pronounced ?37% improvement compared to TiO 2 branched NRs and ?450 % enhancement compared to TO 2 NRs. It iss believed that not only the photon scattering effect and LSPR response in visible region (?675 and ?530 nm) of Au NTs but also the high conductivity and large surface area of RGO assisted in harvesting visible light, accelerated charge carrier transportation, and reduced the charge recombination rate to improve the PEC water splitting performance of TiO 2 . ? 2018 SPIE.