Accelerating the photocatalytic degradation of toluene by unidirectional electron transfer via FRET strategy

Humanity's need for clean air has stimulated their research interest in the remediation of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). As an environmentally friendly pollution control technology, photocatalysis can easily generate oxidative free radicals for the mineralization of VOCs. Herein, we report a Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET)-inspired Ag/SrSO 4 /TiO 2 photocatalyst with 2.5-fold higher activity for toluene degradation than pristine TiO 2 . The study of the catalyst reaction mechanism shows that the interlayer SrSO 4 between the plasmonic Ag and the photocatalyst TiO 2 is the key factor to guide the unidirectional transfer of electrons . A proper thickness of the insulator interlayer (whether SrSO 4 or BaSO 4 ) can reduce the recombination efficiency of photo-generated electrons and holes, resulting in an excellent toluene degradation ability. This finding demonstrates the excellent versatility of the catalyst system, which provides a novel direction for the modification of typical photocatalysts.