Fermi-level shift, electron separation, and plasmon resonance change in Ag nanoparticle-decorated TiO2 under UV light illumination

Noble metal nanoparticles are widely used as co-catalysts for storing and separating electrons in semiconductor photocatalysis. Thus, evaluating this ability is important and meaningful to understand the photocatalytic mechanism. Employing Ag nanoparticles, the present study combined in situ photoconductance and theoretical analysis to evaluate the Fermi-level (EF) shift in a UV-illuminated Ag/TiO2 system under gaseous conditions. Based on this, the role of the Ag nanoparticles in storing and separating electrons was discussed. It was found that the EF of Ag/TiO2 is located deeper in the gap and a variation in temperature has less effect on the EF of Ag/TiO2 compared to the undecorated TiO2. The analysis showed that ∼46 electrons can be stored in 10 nm Ag nanoparticles under our experimental conditions, which does not change with temperature. The electron traps in TiO2 can affect the electron distribution in the TiO2 and Ag nanoparticles. It was observed that the localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) of the Ag nanoparticles exhibited a blue-shift under UV light illumination, which is generally ascribed to the electron storage in the Ag nanoparticles. However, we showed that the blue-shift is not related to the electron storage in the Ag nanoparticles, and thus it cannot be used as an indicator for evaluating their electron-storage ability. The in situ XPS analysis also does not support that the LSPR blue shift is associated with the reduction in the Ag2O layer and TiO2.