Defect state-induced efficient hot electron transfer in Au nanoparticles/reduced TiO mesocrystal photocatalysts.

We investigated Au/TiO2 mesocrystals as plasmonic photocatalyst prototypes using single-particle photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy combined with finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) simulations, and found that introduction of defect states builds up a channel for hot electrons with energies lower than the Schottky barrier height to transfer to the semiconductor.

g-CN/TiO Mesocrystals Composite for H Evolution under Visible-Light Irradiation and Its Charge Carrier Dynamics.

The photocatalytic performance of graphitic carbon nitride (g-CN) has been limited to low efficiency due to fast charge recombination. Here, we constructed g-CN nanosheets/TiO mesocrystals metal-free composite (g-CN NS/TMC) to promote the efficiency of charge separation. The photocatalytic H evolution experiments indicate that coupling g-CN NS with TMC increases photogenerated charge carriers in g-CN NS/TMC composite due to efficient charge separation.