What is the predominant electron transfer process for Au NRs/TiO2 nanodumbbell heterostructure under sunlight irradiation?

Au nanorods/TiO2 nano-dumbbells photocatalysts exhibited significantly enhanced visible light photocatalytic H-2-production activity due to injection of hot electrons of photo-excited Au nanorods to TiO2 nanopaticles, which was confirmed by femtosecond transient absorption spectroscopy. However, it is well known that the electrons were transferred from TiO2 nanopaticles to Au nanorods under UV light irradiation. Considering the practical application, we investigated the photo-catalytic activity of Au nanorods/TiO2 nano-dumbbells photocatalysts under sunlight irradiation. Based on the data analysis, we confirmed the dominant electron transfer direction was from TiO2 nanoparticles to Au nanorods under sunlight irradiation and Au nanorods/TiO2 nano-dumbbells photocatalysts could act as an effective photocatalyst for H-2-generation from water even without electron donor due to the efficient charge separation and the spatial separation of reduction and oxidation reaction sites. (C) 2017 Published by Elsevier B.V.