Hot electron in visible-light-induced plasmonic photocatalysis by AuNP/TiO2 −A Review

AuNP/TiO2 nanocomposite is promising for developing visible-light-induced plasmonic photocatalysis. The effective hot electron generation and inhabitation of electron-hole recombination are the paradigms for the efficiency of plasmonic photocatalysis. The photon-energy alteration in AuNP/TiO2 depends upon the shape, size, TiO2 phase, and crystallinity, irradiation wavelength, etc. For its movement, there are different suggestions, such as electron-phonon interaction, direct electron transfer, PRET, PIRET, remote activity mechanism, charge transfer mechanism, plasmon heating, Forster resonance energy transfer, etc.  Here, such different parameters and various physical mechanisms for its generation and role in the plasmon-induced photocatalysis by AuNP/TiO2 are being reviewed.