Visible‐Light‐Induced Electron Transport from Small to Large Nanoparticles in Bimodal Gold Nanoparticle‐Loaded Titanium(IV) Oxide |
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| Authors: | Dr Shin‐ichi Naya Tadahiro Niwa Takahiro Kume Prof?Dr Hiroaki Tada |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Environmental Research Laboratory, Kinki University, 3‐4‐1, Kowakae, Higashi‐Osaka, Osaka 577‐8502 (Japan);2. Department of Applied Chemistry, School of Science and Engineering, Kinki University, 3‐4‐1, Kowakae, Higashi‐Osaka, Osaka 577‐8502 (Japan) |
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| Abstract: | A key to realizing the sustainable society is to develop highly active photocatalysts for selective organic synthesis effectively using sunlight as the energy source. Recently, metal‐oxide‐supported gold nanoparticles (NPs) have emerged as a new type of visible‐light photocatalysts driven by the excitation of localized surface plasmon resonance of Au NPs. Here we show that visible‐light irradiation (λ>430 nm) of TiO2‐supported Au NPs with a bimodal size distribution (BM‐Au/TiO2) gives rise to the long‐range (>40 nm) electron transport from about 14 small (ca. 2 nm) Au NPs to one large (ca. 9 nm) Au NP through the conduction band of TiO2. As a result of the enhancement of charge separation, BM‐Au/TiO2 exhibits a high level of visible‐light activity for the one‐step synthesis of azobenzenes from nitrobenzenes at 25 °C with a yield greater than 95 % and a selectivity greater than 99 %, whereas unimodal Au/TiO2 (UM‐Au/TiO2) is photocatalytically inactive. |
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| Keywords: | gold nanoparticles photocatalysis surface plasmon resonances visible light |
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