Photoelectrochemical Catalysis with Noble Metal Nanoparticles

摘要

Noble metal nanoparticles exhibit a variety of remarkable chemical and physical properties. They efficiently absorb visible and infrared light, can be synthetically manipulated to reveal complex surface morphologies, and are stable under harsh chemical conditions. These properties make them highly useful as renewable energy powered catalysts that take advantage of both photo- and electrical-excitation to drive chemical reactions. Au, Ag, Pt, Pd, and Rh nanoparticles have been used to carry out a variety of chemical transformations, including H_2 generation, CO_2 reduction, N_2 reduction, and CH_4 oxidation. This talk will describe recent efforts to understand the intersection of the various chemical and physical properties exhibited by noble metal nanoparticles, focusing on how they can be used and manipulated to drive small molecule renewable-powered catalysis.