Solar Hydrogen Generation by a CdS-Au-TiO 2 Sandwich Nanorod Array Enhanced with Au Nanoparticle as Electron Relay and Plasmonic Photosensitizer

This paper presents a sandwich-structured CdS-Au-TiO2 nanorod array as the photoanode in a photoelectrochemical cell (PEC) for hydrogen generation via splitting water. The gold nanoparticles sandwiched between the TiO2 nanorod and the CdS quantum dot (QD) layer play a dual role in enhancing the solar-to-chemical energy conversion efficiency. First, the Au nanoparticles serve as an electron relay, which facilitates the charge transfer between CdS and TiO2 when the CdS QDs are photoexcited by wavelengths shorter than 525 nm. Second, the Au nanoparticles act as a plasmonic photosensitizer, which enables the solar-to-hydrogen conversion at wavelengths longer than the band edge of CdS, extending the photoconversion…

• NS
  National Science Foundation

  Award: CBET-1233795