Plasmon-enhanced cathodic reduction for accelerating electricity generation in visible-light-assisted microbial fuel cells

Abstract Visible-light-assisted microbial fuel cells (VLA-MFCs) possess great potential, in which novel photoelectric conversion process was integrated into the conventional microbial electricity generation, thus multidimensional energy conversion routes can be achieved. In this regard, developing high-efficiency photoelectric conversion strategy to obtain high performance of VLA-MFCs is highly desirable. Herein, we present a promising plasmon-induced hot-electron transfer system in which three-dimensional Cu2O@plasmonic Au nanowire array was first synthesized and used as the photocathode for accelerating electricity generation of the VLA-MFC. Owning to the surface plasmon resonance excitation of Au nanocrystals, hot electrons can be generated and injected into the adjacent Cu2O semiconductor nanowire array for significantly enhancing the cathodic reduction reaction, eventually resulting in the improved performance of the VLA-MFC.