Plasmonic W18O49-photosensitized TiO2 nanosheets with wide-range solar light harvesting

The search for photocatalytic materials that can harvest a wide spectrum of solar light, from ultraviolet (UV) to near infrared (NIR) regions remains one of the most challenging missions. Here, by in situ growing plasmonic W18O49 nanocrystals on TiO2 nanosheets with exposed {001} facets, a hybrid photocatalyst with broad spectrum photocatalytic properties has been fabricated, which can harvest UV, visible, and NIR light to decompose organic contaminants. The results present a new concept that plasmonic transition-metal oxides with a high concentration of oxygen vacancies can be used as non-noble metal photosensitizers to design efficient photocatalysts with high activity.