Localized Surface Plasmon Resonances in Plasmonic Molybdenum Tungsten Oxide Hybrid for Visible-Light-Enhanced Catalytic Reaction

A well-crystallized plasmonic MoxW1–xO3–y hybrid was obtained by a nonaqueous method. Detailed characterization by means of XRD, TEM, Raman, UV–vis, N2 physisorption, and XPS measurements revealed that the synthesized plasmonic MoxW1–xO3–y hybrid showed strong localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPRs). It was demonstrated that such strong LSPRs was generated from crystal vacancies, mainly including mutual doping vacancies of molybdenum ions and tungsten ions and oxygen vacancies. More importantly, the LSPR absorption intensity of MoxW1–xO3–y was almost 20, 16, and 8 times larger than that of as-synthesized MoO3–x, WO3–x, and our previously reported MoO3–x nanosheets (NS), respectively. To the best of our knowledge, such materials exhibiting strong LSPR absorption intensity have never been reported elsewhere. We also demonstrated that such plasmonic MoxW1–xO3–y could be used as a highly efficient catalyst that dramatically enhanced the dehydrogenation activity from ammonia borane (NH3BH3; AB) under visible light irradiation.