Plasmonic Ag nanoparticles decorated SrTiO3 nanocubes for enhanced photocatalytic CO2 reduction and H2 evolution under visible light irradiation

Herein, Ag decorated SrTiO3 nanocomposites (ASTO) were fabricated by solvothermal strategy. The resultant ASTO nanocomposites possess the broad plasmonic resonance absorption for visible light, achieving the obvious visible light photocatalytic CO2 reduction and H-2 evolution performance. CO, CH4 and H-2 were detected for CO2 reduction, but the photocatalytic system exhibits a high CO selectivity. The A(0.5)STO achieves the largest CO generation amount of 80.24 mu mol.g(-1). Moreover, the ASTO nanocomposite also shows an enhanced visible light photocatalytic H-2 evolution rate of 264.5 mu mol.g(-1).h(-1). The remarkable photocatalytic reduction performance should belong to the improved visible light absorption capacity benefitted from the localized surface plasmon resonance, and the improved electron extraction and transfer between Ag and STO in ASTO nanocomposite. Admittedly, the abundant reactive electrons over ASTO nanocomposites achieved efficient photocatalytic CO2 reduction and H-2 evolution performance under visible light. Finally, photocatalytic reduction mechanism was investigated. The work provides a feasible controlled synthesis approach to fabricate plasmonic Ag decorated perovskite nanocomposite, achieving efficient visible light photocatalytic CO2 reduction and H-2 generation.