Positioning the Water Oxidation Reaction Sites in Plasmonic Photocatalysts

Plasmonic photocatalysis, stemming from the effective light absorbance and confinement of surface plasmons, provides a pathway to enhance solar energy conversion. Although the plasmonic hot electrons in water reduction have been extensively studied, exactly how the plasmonic hot holes participate in the water splitting reaction has not yet been well understood. In particular, where the plasmonic hot holes participate in water oxidation is still illusive. Herein, taking Au/TiO₂ as a plasmonic photocatalyst prototype, we investigated the plasmonic hot holes involved in water oxidation. The reaction sites are positioned by photodeposition together with element mapping by electron microscopy, while the distribution of holes is probed by surface photovoltage imaging with Kelvin probe force microscopy. We demonstrated that the plasmonic holes are mainly concentrated near the gold-semiconductor interface, which is further identified as the reaction site for plasmonic water oxidation. Density functional theory also corroborates these findings by revealing the promotion role of interfacial structure (Ti-O-Au) for oxygen evolution. Furthermore, the interfacial effect on plasmonic water oxidation is validated by other Au-semiconductor photocatalytic systems (Au/SrTiO₃, Au/BaTiO₃, etc.).