A Microorganism Bred TiO/Au/TiO Heterostructure for Whispering Gallery Mode Resonance Assisted Plasmonic Photocatalysis.

The TiO/Au nanostructure has been acknowledged as one of the most classic visible-light active photocatalysts due to the surface plasmon resonance (SPR) of Au nanoparticles. In many cases, the SPR effect only features weak visible light absorption in conventional TiO/Au nanostructures. Here, we demonstrate a design of TiO/Au/TiO with a combination of whispering gallery mode (WGM) resonances and SPR for efficient visible-light-driven photocatalysis. () were used as natural reactants as well as a template to construct an -like TiO/Au/TiO nanostructure. Using numerical simulations, we show that the -like TiO capsule acts as the WGM resonator to interplay with the SPR effect of the Au NPs on TiO surface, which leads to a significant increase of visible light absorption and the local field enhancement at the Au-TiO interface. Accordingly, with the synergistic effect of WGM and SPR, the -like TiO/Au/TiO nanostructure exhibits enhanced photocatalytic activity in the visible range. Our work reveals a promising bioapproach to a design highly visible light active plasmonic photocatalyst.