Evaluation of the plasmonic effect of Au and Ag on Ti-based photocatalysts in the reduction of CO₂ to CH₄

Crystalline TiO₂ (P25) and isolated titanate species in a ZSM-5 structure (TS-1) were modified with Au and Ag, respectively, and tested in the gas-phase photocatalytic CO₂ reduction under high purity conditions. The noble metal modification was performed by photodeposition. Light absorbance properties of the catalysts are examined with UV–Vis spectroscopy before and after the activity test. In the gas-phase photocatalytic CO₂ reduction, it was observed that the catalysts with Ag nanostructures are more active than those with Au nanostructures. It is thus found that the energetic difference between the band gap energy of the semiconductor and the position of the plasmon is influencing the photocatalytic activity. Potentially, plasmon excitation due to visible light absorption results in plasmon resonance energy, which affects the excitation of the semiconductor positively. Therefore, an overlap between band gap energy of the semiconductor and metal plasmon is needed.