The surface plasmon resonance, thermal, support and size effect induced photocatalytic activity enhancement of Au/reduced graphene oxide for selective oxidation of benzylic alcohols

Abstract

Reduced graphene oxide (RGO) as an electron-conductive medium and photosensitizer have been widely used to construct efficient RGO/semiconductor photocatalysts for solar energy conversion; however, the role of RGO has been largely underestimated. Herein, the surface plasmon resonance (SPR) effect, thermal effect, support effect, and size effect of Au/RGO are demonstrated to play important roles in enhancing the photocatalytic activity, which has not been considered previously. Au/RGO nanocomposites, synthesized via a facile wet chemistry route, exhibit an excellent visible light photocatalytic performance for selective oxidation of benzylic alcohols. A collection of joint techniques and control experiments have been employed to explain the SPR effect, thermal effect, support effect, and size effect over the Au/RGO photocatalyst. The possible reaction mechanism for the photocatalytic and thermocatalytic selective oxidation of alcohols over Au/RGO has also been discussed.