Control of Surface Plasmon Resonance of Au/SnO2 by Modification with Ag and Cu for Photoinduced Reactions under Visible-Light Irradiation over a Wide Range.

Gold particles supported on tin(IV) oxide (0.2 wt% Au/SnO2) were modified with copper and silver by the multistep photodeposition method. Absorption around λ=550 nm, attributed to surface plasmon resonance (SPR) of Au, gradually shifted to longer wavelengths on modification with Cu and finally reached λ=620 nm at 0.8 wt% Cu. On the other hand, the absorption shifted to shorter wavelength with increasing amount of Ag and reached λ=450 nm at 0.8 wt% Ag. These Cu- and Ag-modified 0.2 wt% Au/SnO2 materials (Cu-Au/SnO2 and Ag-Au/SnO2) and 1.0 wt% Au/SnO2 were used for mineralization of formic acid to carbon dioxide in aqueous suspension under irradiation with visible light from a xenon lamp and three kinds of light-emitting diodes with different wavelengths. The reaction rates for the mineralization of formic acid over these materials depend on the wavelength of light. Apparent quantum efficiencies of Cu-Au/SnO2, Au/SnO2, and Ag-Au/SnO2 reached 5.5% at 625 nm, 5.8% at 525 nm, and 5.1% at 450 nm, respectively. These photocatalysts can also be used for selective oxidation of alcohols to corresponding carbonyl compounds in aqueous solution under visible-light irradiation. Broad responses to visible light in formic acid mineralization and selective alcohol oxidation were achieved when the three materials were used simultaneously.