Kinetic and DFT Studies on the Photoinduced Desorption of Sulfur from Gold Nanoparticles Loaded on Titanium Dioxide

Cleaning poisoned gold catalysts : Kinetic analysis of the photoinduced desorption of sulfur from gold nanoparticles loaded on TiO 2 particles in water revealed that the rate constant increases with increasing pH. Photoelectrochemical measurements and DFT calculations led to the conclusion that this reaction results from an upward shift in the Fermi energy of gold nanoparticles by irradiation. The picture shows a high‐resolution TEM image of an Au nanoparticle on TiO 2 .