Steric hindrance-induced selective growth of rhodium on gold nanobipyramids for plasmon-enhanced nitrogen fixation

The construction of an antenna–reactor plasmonic photocatalyst that is composed of a plasmonic and a catalytically active metal holds great promise in driving N(2) photofixation, but its photocatalytic performance is highly dependent on the spatial distribution of the two components. Up to now, the fabrication of dumbbell-shaped nanostructures featuring spatially separated architecture has remained challenging. Herein, we develop a facile synthetic strategy for the site-selective growth of a Rh nanocrystal ‘reactor’ on two tips of an Au nanobipyramid (NBP) ‘antenna’ through the precise manipulation of steric hindrance toward Rh overgrowth. The obtained Au NBP/tip-Rh nanodumbbells (Au NBP/tip-Rh NDs) can function as an excellent antenna–reactor plasmonic photocatalyst for N(2) photofixation. In this scenario, the Au nanoantenna harvests light and generates hot electrons under plasmon resonance, meanwhile the hot electrons are transferred to the active sites on Rh nanocrystals for N(2) reduction. In comparison with that of classical core@shell nanostructures, the spatially separated architecture of the Au NBP/tip-Rh NDs facilitates charge separation, greatly improving the photocatalytic activity. This study sheds new light on the structure–function relationship for N(2) photofixation and benefits the design and construction of spatially separated plasmonic photocatalysts.