Plasmon resonant enhancement of carbon monoxide catalysis

Irradiating gold nanoparticles at their plasmon resonance frequency creates immense plasmonic charge and high temperatures, which can be used to drive catalytic reactions. By integrating strongly plasmonic nanoparticles with strongly catalytic metal oxides, significant enhancements in the catalytic activity can be achieved. Here, we study the plasmonically driven catalytic conversion of CO to CO₂ by irradiating Au nanoparticle/Fe ₂O₃ composites. The reaction rate of this composite greatly exceeds that of the Au nanoparticles or Fe₂O₃ alone, indicating that this reaction is not driven solely by the thermal (plasmonic) heating of the gold nanoparticles but relies intimately on the interaction of these two materials. A comparison of the plasmonically driven catalytic reaction rate with that obtained under uniform heating shows an enhancement of at least 2 orders of magnitude.