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Direct observation of the plasmon-enhanced palladium catalysis with single-molecule fluorescence microscopy

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Abstract

Plasmonic nanostructures have been proved effective not only in catalyzing chemical reactions, but also in improving the activity of non-plasmonic photocatalysts. It is essential to reveal the synergy between the plasmonic structure and the non-plasmonic metal photocatalyst for expounding the underlying mechanism of plasmon-enhanced catalysis. Herein, the enhancement of resazurin reduction at the heterostructure of silver nanowire (AgNW) and palladium nanoparticles (PdNPs) is observed in situ by single-molecule fluorescence microscopy. The catalysis mapping results around single AgNW suggest that the catalytic activity of PdNPs is enhanced for ∼ 20 times due to the excitation of localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) in the vicinity of the AgNW. This catalysis enhancement is also highly related to the wavelength and polarization of the excitation light. In addition, the palladium catalysis is further enhanced by ∼ 10 times in the vicinity of a roughened AgNW or a AgNW-AgNW nanogap because of the improvement of catalytic hotspots. These findings clarify the contribution of plasmon excitation in palladium catalysis at microscopic scale, which will help to deepen the understanding of the plasmon-enhanced photocatalysis and provide a guideline for developing highly efficient plasmon-based photocatalysts.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 11974180) and the Postgraduate Research and Practice Innovation Program of Jiangsu Province (Nos. KYCX21_1095 and SJCX21_0472).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Flexible Electronics (Future Technologies), Key Laboratory of Flexible Electronics, and Institute of Advanced Materials, Nanjing Tech University (NanjingTech), Nanjing, 211816, China

    Zhuoyao Li, Rajkumar Devasenathipathy, Junjie Wang, Liuyingzi Yu, Yan Liang, Huixiang Sheng, Yameng Zhu, Hai Li, Xiao Huang & Gang Lu

  2. Department of Chemistry, KU Leuven, Celestijnenlaan 200F, Leuven, 3001, Belgium

    Hiroshi Uji-i

  3. Research Institute for Electronic Science, Hokkaido University, N20W10, Kita ward, Sapporo, Hokkaido, 001-0020, Japan

    Hiroshi Uji-i

  4. National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures, Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210093, China

    Gang Lu

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  1. Zhuoyao Li
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  2. Rajkumar Devasenathipathy
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Li, Z., Devasenathipathy, R., Wang, J. et al. Direct observation of the plasmon-enhanced palladium catalysis with single-molecule fluorescence microscopy. Nano Res. 16, 8817–8826 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-023-5548-7

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