Metal Nanoshells for Plasmonically Enhanced Solar to Fuel Photocatalytic Conversion

Abstract

First thrust: Gold-silver nanoshells (GS-NSs) that provide a tunable localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) were prepared for incorporation into a photocatalytic matrix to facilitate charge separation of photo-excited carriers. Zinc indium sulfide (ZIS), a visible light active photocatalyst, was used as the photocatalytic matrix. In addition, a dielectric interlayer of silica between the GS-NSs and ZIS was used to provide an additional parameter to distinguish the enhancement mechanism. In an extensive study using ten different samples, we found that GS-NS@ZIS particles with an LSPR absorption at ~700 nm and a silica interlayer of ~17 nm generated a rate of hydrogen production 2.6 times higher than that of unmodified ZIS. Second thrust: Tin oxide-coated gold-silver nanoshells were prepared as an alternative plasmonic enhancement system to the silicon oxide system described above. Tin oxide is an attractive material for photocatalytic reactions due to its exceptional photostability and good carrier mobility.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
May 18, 2016
Accession Number
AD1022779

Entities

People

  • Randall Lee

Organizations

  • University of Houston

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Advanced Electronics

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Air Force Research Laboratories
  • Carrier Mobility
  • Composite Materials
  • Electron Transfer
  • Energy
  • Energy Bands
  • Energy Transfer
  • Hydrogen
  • Materials
  • Metallic Nanoparticles
  • Particles
  • Resonance
  • Subatomic Particles
  • Surface Plasmon Resonance
  • Surface Plasmons
  • Visible Spectra

Fields of Study

  • Materials science

Readers

  • Aerosol Science/Aerosol Physics
  • Quantum Dot Semiconductor Device Photonics and Graphene Optoelectronic Materials and THz Physics.
  • Surface Engineering/Surface Coating Technology.