The solvent-driven formation of multi-morphological Ag-CeO2 plasmonic photocatalysts with enhanced visible-light photocatalytic reduction of CO2

Ag-CeO2 plasmonic photocatalysts with multiple morphologies were synthesized via a simple solvent-driven method. The phase compositions, morphologies and optical properties of the samples were systematically investigated. A combination of noble metal Ag and semiconductor CeO2 in certain solvents (such as methanol and ethylene glycol) enhanced surface plasmon resonance (SPR), which was attributed to the good dispersion of Ag particles on CeO2 and high Ag-0 ratios on the surface. The enhanced SPR effect boosted absorption of incident light and facilitated charge carrier separation and transport efficiency caused by the formation of Schottky barriers, thus promoting VLPCR performance. The optimum ACG sample (ethylene glycol was adopted as the solvent) exhibited the maximum VLPCR activity, achieving a CH4 yield of 100 mol and a CH3OH yield of 35 mol per gram of catalyst per hour during 6 h visible-light irradiation.