Pronounced interfacial interaction in icosahedral Au@C60 core-shell nanostructure for boosting direct plasmonic photocatalysis under alkaline condition

Abstract The unique hot carrier-driven direct plasmonic photocatalysis of coinage metal nanomaterials (NMs) via energetic localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) in visible-light region has been explored in recent years. However, the low photoinduced electron transfer efficiency and insufficient separation of electron-hole pairs would severely preclude their widespread practical applications. Herein, we demonstrate an interesting plasmonic photocatalyst based on the construction of icosahedral (Ih) Au@C60 core-shell NMs, taking advantage of specific delocalized π electrons structure of a tight C60 shell and enhanced LSPR property of Ih Au core. Then, the pronounced interfacial interaction at junction region endows the obtained Au@C60 NMs with an outstanding photoinduced hot carrier-transmission during photocatalytic reaction, facilitating a remarkably higher (1.89 times) photocatalytic activity toward visible-light driven degradation of crystal violet (CV) dyes, as compared to bare Au NMs. Impressively, the photocatalytic activity of Ih Au@C60 NMs can be effectively optimized by changing the pH value of reaction solution, with the kinetic rate constant reaching the maximum value of 0.179 min−1 in pH0 11.4 solution, while 0.005 min−1 at pH0 3.0. Moreover, due to the protection of a tight C60 shell, the Ih Au@C60 NMs also possess excellent photocatalytic stability/reusability in recycling runs, holding great potential for the design of robust and high-performance plasmonic photocatalysts in repeated practical applications.