Switching of electrochemical selectivity due to plasmonic field-induced dissociation.

Electrochemical reactivity is known to be dictated by the structure and composition of the electrocatalyst-electrolyte interface. Here, we show that optically generated electric fields at this interface can influence electrochemical reactivity insofar as to completely switch reaction selectivity. We study an electrocatalyst composed of gold-copper alloy nanoparticles known to be active toward the reduction of CO to CO.