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Updated: Jan 24, 2026

Preparation of Silver-Palladium Alloyed Nanoparticles for Plasmonic Catalysis under Visible-Light Illumination
Published on: August 18, 2020
Plasmonic Switching of the Reaction Pathway: Visible-Light Irradiation Varies the Reactant Concentration at the
Erandi Peiris1, Sarina Sarina1, Eric R Waclawik1
1School of Chemistry, Physics and Mechanical Engineering, Queensland University of Technology, 2 George Street, Brisbane, 4001, Australia.
Abstract:
Product selectivity of alkyne hydroamination over catalytic Au2 Co alloy nanoparticles (NPs) can be made switchable by a light-on/light-off process, yielding imine (cross-coupling product of aniline and alkyne) under visible-light irradiation, but 1,4-diphenylbutadiyne in the dark. The low-flux light irradiation concentrates aniline on the catalyst, accelerating the catalytic cross-coupling by several orders of magnitude even at a very low overall aniline concentrations (1.0×10-3 mol L-1 ). A tentative mechanism is that Au2 Co NPs absorb light, generating an intense fringing electromagnetic field and hot electrons. The sharp field-gradient (plasmonic optical force) can selectively enhance adsorption of light-polarizable aniline molecules on the catalyst. The light irradiation thereby alters the aniline/alkyne ratio at the NPs surface, switching product selectivity. This represents a new paradigm to modify a catalysis process by light.
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