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Many strategies have been adopted to improve the photoinduced features of zinc oxide nanostructures for different application fields. In this work, zinc oxide has been synthesised and decorated by plasmonic metal nanoparticles to enhance its photocatalytic activity in the visible range. Furthermore, an insulating layer of SiO2 has been grown between the surface of zinc oxide nanoflakes and silver nanoparticles. A synthetic procedure that allows the accurate modulation of the insulating layer thickness in the range 5–40 nm has been developed. Evidences highlight the crucial role of the SiO2 layer in dramatically increasing photocatalytic water oxidation promoted by the nanostructure under both UV and visible illumination. An ideal thickness value of about 10 nm has been demonstrated to guarantee the plasmon‐induced resonance energy‐transfer process and to quench the Förster resonance energy‐transfer mechanism; thus, optimising the local surface plasmon resonance effect and water oxidation properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In hybrid materials containing plasmonic nanoparticles such as Au and Ag, charge-transfer processes from and to Au or Ag can affect both activities and selectivity in plasmonic catalysis. Inspired by the widespread utilization of commercial Si wafers in surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) studies, we investigated herein the effect of the native SiO2 layer on Si wafers over the surface plasmon resonance (SPR)-mediated activities of the Au and Ag nanoparticles (NPs). We prepared SERS-active plasmonic comprised of Au and Ag NPs deposited onto a Si wafer. Here, two kinds of Si wafers were employed: Si with a native oxide surface layer (Si/SiO2) and Si without a native oxide surface layer (Si). This led to Si/SiO2/Au, Si/SiO2/Ag, Si/Au, and Si/Ag NPs. The SPR-mediated oxidation of p-aminothiophenol (PATP) to p, p′-dimercaptoazobenzene (DMAB) was employed as a model transformation. By comparing the performances and band structures for the Si/Au and Si/Ag relative to Si/SiO2/Au and Si/SiO2/Ag NPs, it was found that the presence of a SiO2 layer was crucial to enable higher SPR-mediated PATP to DMAB conversions. The SiO2 layer acts to prevent the charge transfer of SPR-excited hot electrons from Au or Ag nanoparticles to the Si substrate. This enabled SPR-excited hot electrons to be transferred to adsorbed O2 molecules, which then participate in the selective oxidation of PATP to DMAB. In the absence of a SiO2 layer, SPR-excited hot electrons are preferentially transferred to Si instead of adsorbed O2 molecules, leading to much lower PATP oxidation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Silver nanoparticles (NPs) ranging in size from 40 to 100 nm were prepared in high yield by using an improved seed-mediated method. The homogeneous Ag NPs were used as building blocks for 2D assembled Ag NP arrays by using an oil/water interface. A close-packed 2D array of Ag NPs was fabricated by using packing molecules (3-mercaptopropyltrimethoxysilane) to control the interparticle spacing. The homogeneous 2D Ag NP array exhibited a strong quadrupolar cooperative plasmon mode resonance and a dipolar red-shift relative to individual Ag NPs suspended in solution. A well-arranged 2D Ag NP array was embedded in polydimethylsiloxane film and, with biaxial stretching to control the interparticle distance, concomitant variations of the quadrupolar and dipolar couplings were observed. As the interparticle distance increased, the intensity of the quadrupolar cooperative plasmon mode resonance decreased and dipolar coupling completely disappeared. The local electric field of the 2D Ag NP array was calculated by using finite difference time domain simulation and qualitatively showed agreement with the experimental measurements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Metal-support interactions (MSIs) and particle size play important roles in catalytic reactions. For the first time, silver nanoparticles supported on CeO2-SBA-15 supports are reported that possess tunable particle size and MSIs, as prepared by microwave (MW) irradiation, owing to strong charge polarization of CeO2 clusters (i.e., MW absorption). Characterizations, including TEM, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and extended X-ray absorption fine structure, were carried out to disclose the influence of CeO2 contents on the Ag particle size, MSI effect between Ag nanoparticles and CeO2-SBA-15 supports, and the strong MW absorption of CeO2 clusters that contribute to the MSIs during Ag deposition. The Ag particle sizes were controllably tuned from 1.9 to 3.9 nm by changing the loading amounts of CeO2 from 0.5 to 2.0 wt %. The Ag nanoparticle size was predominantly responsible for the high turnover frequency (TOF) of 0.41 min−1 in ammonia borane dehydrogenation, whereas both particle size and MSIs contributed to the high TOF of 555 min−1 in 4-nitrophenol reduction for Ag/0.5CeO2-SBA-15, which were twice as large as those of Ag/SBA-15 without CeO2 and Ag/CeO2-SBA-15 prepared by conventional oil-bath heating. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]