Plasmonic coupling-boosted photothermal nanoreactor for efficient solar light-driven photocatalytic water splitting.

Photothermal nanoreactor with rapid charge transfer and improved spectral utilization is a key point in photocatalysis research. Herein, silver sulfide quantum dots (AgS QDs) were coating on the surface of porous graphitic carbon nitride nano vesicles (PCNNVs) to form AgS/PCNNVs nanoreactors by a simple calcination method for obtaining efficient photothermal-assisted photocatalytic hydrogen (H) evolution under simulated/real sunlight irradiation. In particularly, the as-prepared optimal 3% AgS/PCNNVs sample exhibited the H production rate of 34.8 mmol h g, which was 3.5 times higher than that of bare PCNNVs. The enhancement of photothermal-assisted activity over the AgS/PCNNVs composite system is mainly attributed to the coupling of the photothermal conversion performance of AgS QDs and the thermal insulation performance of PCNNVs based on the plasmonic coupling-boosted photothermal nanoreactor. This study presents a promising strategy for the development of high-efficient photothermal-assisted photocatalysts.