Silver Nanocubes Coated in Ceria: Core/Shell Size Effects on Light-Induced Charge Transfer

• DOI: 10.1021/acsami.9b18393
• Publication Date: 2019-12-10T01:36:42Z
• Authors: Devin B. O’Neill; Daniel Prezgot; Anatoli Ianoul; Cees Otto; Guido Mul; Annemarie Huijser
• Keywords: sensitized photocatalyst; FDTD; Raman spectroscopy; UT-Hybrid-D; light-induced charge transfer; 02 engineering and technology; 0210 nano-technology; 7. Clean energy; plasmonic; silver nanocube; ceria

Plasmonic sensitization of semiconductors is an attractive approach to increase light-induced photocatalytic performance; one method use plasmonic nanostructures in core@shell geometry. The occurrence and mechanism synergetic effects photocatalysis such geometries are under intense debate proposed occur either through charge transfer (CT) or thermal effects. This study focuses on the relation between dimensions Ag@CeO2 nanocubes, wavelength-dependent efficiency, direct CT. A 4-mercaptobenzoic acid (4-MBA) linker core shell acts as a Raman probe for For all CT increases with decreasing excitation wavelength, notable at below 514 nm. fully explainable by from silver 4-MBA LUMO, wavelengths that exceed Ag/4-MBA LUMO gap 2.28 eV (543 nm). second general trend observed yield ceria thickness, which assigned relaxation excited electron further into conduction band, potentially producing defects.