What is the predominant electron transfer process for Au NRs/TiO2 nanodumbbell heterostructure under sunlight irradiation?

Abstract Au nanorods/TiO 2 nano-dumbbells photocatalysts exhibited significantly enhanced visible light photocatalytic H 2 -production activity due to injection of hot electrons of photo-excited Au nanorods to TiO 2 nanopaticles, which was confirmed by femtosecond transient absorption spectroscopy. However, it is well known that the electrons were transferred from TiO 2 nanopaticles to Au nanorods under UV light irradiation. Considering the practical application, we investigated the photo-catalytic activity of Au nanorods/TiO 2 nano-dumbbells photocatalysts under sunlight irradiation. Based on the data analysis, we confirmed the dominant electron transfer direction was from TiO 2 nanoparticles to Au nanorods under sunlight irradiation and Au nanorods/TiO 2 nano-dumbbells photocatalysts could act as an effective photocatalyst for H 2 -generation from water even without electron donor due to the efficient charge separation and the spatial separation of reduction and oxidation reaction sites.