Titania-on-gold nanoarchitectures for visible-light-driven hydrogen evolution from water splitting

Titania-on-gold “inverse” nanocomposites were formed by loading smaller TiO₂ nanoparticles onto bigger gold nanospheres by combining seed-mediated method with solvothermal method. This new nanoarchitecture exhibits excellent properties in hydrogen evolution from water splitting under visible-light irradiation. The enhanced performance was attributive to the synergistic effect between ultrafine TiO₂ nanoparticle and localized surface plasmon resonance effect of gold nanoparticles, which induce the faster separation of photo-generated electrons from Au nanospheres to TiO₂ nanoparticle. Besides, the nanocomposites have a strong absorption at around 550 nm, corresponding to the maximum irradiation intensity of solar spectrum. Owing to these outstanding properties, the as-obtained titania-on-gold nanoarchitectures showed promising and great potential for practical applications in photocatalytic field.