TY - JOUR A1 - Zhang, Zhiyang A1 - Li, Y. A1 - Frisch, J. A1 - Bär, M. A1 - Rappich, J. A1 - Kneipp, Janina T1 - In situ surface-enhanced Raman scattering shows ligand-enhanced hot electron harvesting on silver, gold, and copper nanoparticles JF - Journal of Catalysis N2 - Hot carriers (electrons and holes) generated from the decay of localized surface plasmon resonances can take a major role in catalytic reactions on metal nanoparticles. By obtaining surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) spectra of p-aminothiophenol as product of the reduction of p-nitrothiophenol by hot electrons, different catalytic activity is revealed here for nanoparticles of silver, gold, and copper. As a main finding, a series of different ligands, comprising halide and non-halide species, are found to enhance product formation in the reduction reaction on nanoparticles of all three metals. A comparison with the standard electrode potentials of the metals with and without the ligands and SERS data obtained at different electrode potential indicate that the higher catalytic activity can be associated with a higher Fermi level, thereby resulting in an improved efficiency of hot carrier generation. The concept of such a ligand-enhanced hot electron reduction provides a way to make light-to-chemical energy conversion more efficient due to improved electron harvesting. KW - Ligands KW - Hot electrons KW - SERS KW - p-Nitrothiophenol KW - p-Aminothiophenol PY - 2020 DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcat.2020.01.006 VL - 383 SP - 153 EP - 159 PB - Elsevier Inc. CY - Amsterdam, NL AN - OPUS4-50626 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Zhang, Z. A1 - Kneipp, Janina T1 - Ligand-Supported Hot Electron Harvesting: Revisiting the pHResponsive Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering Spectrum of p‑Aminothiophenol JF - The journal of physical chemistry letters N2 - The discussion of the surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) spectra of p-aminothiophenol (PATP) and of ist photocatalytic reaction product 4,4′-dimercaptoazobenzene (DMAB) is important for understanding plasmon-supported spectroscopy and catalysis. Here, SERS spectra indicate that DMAB forms also in a nonphotocatalytic reaction on silver nanoparticles. Spectra measured at low pH, in the presence of the acids HCl, H2SO4, HNO3, and H3PO4, show that DMAB is reduced to PATP when both protons and chloride ions are present. Moreover, the successful reduction of DMAB in the presence of other, halide and nonhalide, ligands suggests a central role of these species in the reduction. As discussed, the ligands increase the efficiency of hot-electron harvesting. The pH-associated reversibility of the SERS spectrum of PATP is established as an Observation of the DMAB dimer at high pH and of PATP as a product of its hot-electron reduction at low pH, in the presence of the appropriate ligand. KW - Redox reactions KW - Metal nanoparticles KW - Ligands KW - Raman spectroscopy KW - Nanoparticle formation PY - 2021 DO - https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpclett.0c03732 SN - 1948-7185 VL - 12 IS - 5 SP - 1542 EP - 1547 PB - ACS Publications AN - OPUS4-52140 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -