A Two-dimensional Amorphous Plasmonic Heterostructure of Pd/MoO_3-x for Enhanced Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting...

Two-dimensional (2D) heterostructures based on localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) have a great potential for solar energy harvesting applications. Exploring 2D amorphous plasmonic heterostructures with high light absorption and catalytic activity is desirable yet challenging. Herein, 2D Pd/MoO_3-x amorphous heterostructures can be obtained by immobilizing Pd single atoms in unsaturated coordination sites of amorphous MoO_3-x , because of strong metal-support interactions, and it reaches a current density of 50 μA cm^-2 for photoelectrochemical response with good durability, and exhibits a high incident-photon-to-current-conversion efficiency (IPCE) of 14.8% at 460 nm. Such an enhanced catalytic effects are contributed to the enhanced light absorption in visible region and change of electronic structure owing to enhanced electron transfer through dominant Pd-O bonds, which facilitate water splitting. This work moves a step closer to the expansion of photovoltaic device with the high conversion efficiency for visible light for amorphous heterostructures.