Quantifying hot carrier and thermal contributions in plasmonic photocatalysis

We report the substantial light-induced reduction of the thermal activation barrier for ammonia decomposition on a plasmonic photocatalyst. We introduce the concept of a light-dependent activation barrier to account for the effect of light illumination on electronic and thermal excitations in a single unified picture. This framework provides insight into the specific role of hot carriers in plasmon-mediated photochemistry, which is critically important for designing energy-efficient plasmonic photocatalysts.

Source: ScienceNOW - October 4, 2018 Category: Science Authors: Zhou, L., Swearer, D. F., Zhang, C., Robatjazi, H., Zhao, H., Henderson, L., Dong, L., Christopher, P., Carter, E. A., Nordlander, P., Halas, N. J. Tags: Chemistry reports Source Type: news