Journal of Power Sources, Vol.399, 59-65, 2018
Construct 3D networked Au-Cu nanowires for enhanced plasmon-driven catalytic ethylene glycol oxidation through visible light irradiation
Photoelectrocatalytic liquid fuel oxidation holds great promise for clean energy, while their practical application greatly depends on the development of high-activity photocatalysts. We herein report the successful application of three-dimensional networked Au-Cu nanowires in the harvesting of visible light for ethylene glycol oxidation reaction. Owing to the coupling of three-dimensional networked nanowire structure and the synergistic effects, the optimized networked Au50Cu50 NWs have the best catalytic activity of 3348.3 mA mg(-1) for the electrooxidation of ethylene glycol. Notably, the surface plasmon resonance also induces Au50Cu50 NWs under visible light irradiation to display 1.65 times enhancement in catalytic activity than that under ambient conditions. This finding provides meaningful guidelines for engineering highly efficient photocatalysts composed of plasmonic metal nanostructures for various chemical reactions driven by sunlight.