Effect of morphologies and compositions of silver-based multicomponent heterogeneous nanocrystals on the reduction of 4-nitrophenol.

Silver-based nanocrystals have excellent catalytic performance in various reactions, such as the reduction of 4-nitrophenol. The catalytic performance of nanocrystals varies with several parameters, including nanocrystal morphology, composition, and plasmon-induced hot electrons around nanocrystals. Here, highly heterogeneous nanocrystals (Au-Ag and AgS-Ag nanocrystals) fabricated on polymer films a seed-mediated method are used as catalysts for the reduction of 4-nitrophenol, and the effect of the morphology and composition of nanocrystals on the catalytic performance is investigated.

Combination of Plasmon-Mediated Photochemistry and Seed-Mediated Methods for Synthesis of Bicomponent Nanocrystals.

Plasmon resonances of metal nanocrystals resulted from free electrons oscillating around nanocrystals, leading to a strong electromagnetic field around them. Because these oscillating electrons possess higher energy than the original ones, also known as hot electrons, these were widely used as photocatalysts for various reactions. Also, the strength and distribution of the electromagnetic field around the nanocrystals strongly depended on their morphology and excited irradiation, which led to the reaction environment around nanocrystals being controllable.