Plasmonic Metal/Semiconductor Heterostructure for Visible Light-Enhanced H(2) Production

[Image: see text] A plasmonic Ag/Bi(2)WO(6) heterostructure, having Ag NPs deposited on Bi(2)WO(6), is obtained by a hydrothermal and photodeposition method. The synthesized Ag/Bi(2)WO(6) composite exhibits strong visible light absorption with a localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) and shows an enhanced photoabsorption property. It is demonstrated that such a Ag/Bi(2)WO(6) heterostructure shows excellent plasmon-enhanced photocatalytic activity in the dehydrogenation of ammonia borane (NH(3)BH(3)) solution under visible light irradiation, which is due to the results from the synergetic effect between Ag NPs and emerging W(5+) ions. More importantly, the performance of a Ag/Bi(2)WO(6) hybrid is almost eight times higher than that of sole Bi(2)WO(6) nanosheets. The introduction of LSPR of Ag in Bi(2)WO(6) improves the electrical conductivity of the composite and lowers the recombination rate of charge carriers. This study opens up the opportunity of rationally fabricating plasmonic metal/semiconductor heterostructures for highly efficient photocatalysis.