Dominance of Plasmonic Resonant Energy Transfer over Direct Electron Transfer in Substantially Enhanced Water Oxidation Activity of BiVO4by Shape-Controlled Au Nanoparticles

The performance of plasmonic Au nanostructure/metal oxide heterointerface shows great promise in enhancing photoactivity, due to its ability to confine light to the small volume inside the semiconductor and modify the interfacial electronic band structure. While the shape control of Au nanoparticles (NPs) is crucial for moderate bandgap semiconductors, because plasmonic resonance by interband excitations overlaps above the absorption edge of semiconductors, its critical role in water splitting is still not fully understood. Here, first, the plasmonic effects of shape-controlled Au NPs on bismuth vanadate (BiVO4) are studied, and a largely enhanced photoactivity of BiVO4 is reported by introducing the octahedral Au NPs. The octahedral Au NP/BiVO4 achieves 2.4 mA cm−2 at the 1.23 V versus reversible hydrogen electrode, which is the threefold enhancement compared to BiVO4. It is the highest value among the previously reported plasmonic Au NPs/BiVO4. Improved photoactivity is attributed to the localized surface plasmon resonance; direct electron transfer (DET), plasmonic resonant energy transfer (PRET). The PRET can be stressed over DET when considering the moderate bandgap semiconductor. Enhanced water oxidation induced by the shape-controlled Au NPs is applicable to moderate semiconductors, and shows a systematic study to explore new efficient plasmonic solar water splitting cells.