Photothermal enhancement of highly efficient photocatalysis with bioinspired thermal radiation balance characteristics

It is strongly beneficial to develop photothermal-assisted photocatalysis that can take advantages of both photoelectrical energy and photothermal energy simultaneously. However, the negative effect originating from overheating is a significant bottleneck in promoting photocatalysis. Here, we rationally integrated plasmonic Au/TiO2 porous materials into an elaborate 3D hierarchical structure bioinspired from the butterfly P. paris which possesses interesting properties for light absorption and thermal radiation management to successfully overcome the above significant challenge, thereby exhibiting excellent photodegradation performance due to the synergy between photoheating and photocatalysis. The mechanism of the photothermal effect on photocatalysis is investigated which reveals that sufficient heat energy plays an indispensable role in the photodegradation of methyl orange. Moreover photothermal energy enhances photocatalysis, but overheating has a negative effect on photocatalysis. Furthermore, the hot e(-) generated from the Au plasmonic NPs produced added O-center dot(2)- as an additional important active species in this photocatalytic process. This work highlights the great promise of photothermal-assisted photocatalysis and presents an innovative way to utilize photothermal energy to advance photocatalysis, simultaneously overcoming the negative effect of overheating.

Automated summary

The study investigates the effect of photothermal energy on photocatalysis and finds that appropriate heat energy can enhance the catalytic reaction, while overheating has a negative impact on photocatalysis. By designing a new composite material that incorporates the light absorption and thermal radiation management properties inspired by butterfly structures, the issue of overheating is successfully addressed, leading to excellent photocatalytic performance.