Plasmonic Hot Hole Extraction from CuS Nanodisks Enables Significant Acceleration of Oxygen Evolution Reactions

Localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) is well known for its unique ability to tune the reactivity of plasmonic materials via photoexcitation; however, it is still an open question as to whether plasmonic holes can be directly extracted to drive valuable chemical reactions. Herein we give an affirmative answer by reporting an illumination-enhanced oxygen evolution reaction (OER) using CuS nanodisks (NDs) alone as the electrocatalyst. Impressively, under 1221 nm laser or xenon lamp illumination, an unprecedented reduction of OER overpotential was observed on the CuS ND-coated electrodes. Transient absorption combined with Mott–Schottky measurements disclosed that near-infrared (NIR) irradiation generated abundant hot holes from LSPR damping in the CuS NDs accounting for the remarkable OER performance enhancement. This is the first report on the direct utilization of plasmonic hot holes in CuS nanomaterials for boosting OER performance, opening up a new route to designing NIR-active photocatalysts/electrocatalysts by exploiting the unique LSPR properties.