Seminar on Photoelectrocatalysis and plasmonic enhancement
The synthesis of nanocatalysts often employs the wet colloidal route, involving capping agents for controlling size and morphology. The presence of these organic ligands at the interface of nanocatalysts is generally considered to be detrimental in the electrocatalytic process because the adsorption of reactants, evolution of intermediate species and desorption of products typically proceed through an inner-sphere reaction. Far to have an adverse impact to the catalytic activity, we will show that the role of capping agents could be reconsidered. Another strong marker of the gold nanomaterials is their plasmonic properties which can be advantageous for electrocatalysis through plasmonic-assisted electrocatalysis (PAEC). We will show some of our first results coupling electrocatalysis at surface-modified gold nanocatalysts and laser irradiation.