IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v16y2025i1d10.1038_s41467-025-58578-9.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Alchemically-glazed plasmonic nanocavities using atomic layer metals: controllably synergizing catalysis and plasmonics

Author

Listed:
  • Shu Hu

    (Xiamen University
    University of Cambridge)

  • Eric S. A. Goerlitzer

    (University of Cambridge)

  • Qianqi Lin

    (University of Cambridge)

  • Bart Nijs

    (University of Cambridge)

  • Vyacheslav M. Silkin

    (Donostia International Physics Center
    Universidad del País Vasco
    IKERBASQUE, Basque Foundation for Science)

  • Jeremy J. Baumberg

    (University of Cambridge)

Abstract

Plasmonic nanocavities offer exceptional confinement of light, making them effective for energy conversion applications. However, limitations with stability, materials, and chemical activity have impeded their practical implementation. Here we integrate ultrathin palladium (Pd) metal films from sub- to few- atomic monolayers inside plasmonic nanocavities using underpotential deposition. Despite the poor plasmonic properties of bulk Pd in the visible region, minimal loss in optical field enhancement is delivered along with Pd chemical enhancement, as confirmed by ab initio calculations. Such synergistic effects significantly enhance photocatalytic activity of the plasmonic nanocavities as well as photostability by suppressing surface atom migration. We show the atomic alchemical-glazing approach is general for a range of catalytic metals that bridge plasmonic and chemical catalysis, yielding broad applications in photocatalysis for optimal chemical transformation.

Suggested Citation

  • Shu Hu & Eric S. A. Goerlitzer & Qianqi Lin & Bart Nijs & Vyacheslav M. Silkin & Jeremy J. Baumberg, 2025. "Alchemically-glazed plasmonic nanocavities using atomic layer metals: controllably synergizing catalysis and plasmonics," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 16(1), pages 1-10, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:16:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-025-58578-9
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-58578-9
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-58578-9
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41467-025-58578-9?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Dean Kos & Giuliana Di Martino & Alexandra Boehmke & Bart Nijs & Dénes Berta & Tamás Földes & Sara Sangtarash & Edina Rosta & Hatef Sadeghi & Jeremy J. Baumberg, 2020. "Optical probes of molecules as nano-mechanical switches," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 11(1), pages 1-8, December.
    2. Sheng-Chao Huang & Xiang Wang & Qing-Qing Zhao & Jin-Feng Zhu & Cha-Wei Li & Yu-Han He & Shu Hu & Matthew M. Sartin & Sen Yan & Bin Ren, 2020. "Probing nanoscale spatial distribution of plasmonically excited hot carriers," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 11(1), pages 1-8, December.
    3. Cloudy Carnegie & Mattin Urbieta & Rohit Chikkaraddy & Bart Nijs & Jack Griffiths & William M. Deacon & Marlous Kamp & Nerea Zabala & Javier Aizpurua & Jeremy J. Baumberg, 2020. "Flickering nanometre-scale disorder in a crystal lattice tracked by plasmonic flare light emission," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 11(1), pages 1-9, December.
    4. Yao-Hui Wang & Shisheng Zheng & Wei-Min Yang & Ru-Yu Zhou & Quan-Feng He & Petar Radjenovic & Jin-Chao Dong & Shunning Li & Jiaxin Zheng & Zhi-Lin Yang & Gary Attard & Feng Pan & Zhong-Qun Tian & Jian, 2021. "In situ Raman spectroscopy reveals the structure and dissociation of interfacial water," Nature, Nature, vol. 600(7887), pages 81-85, December.
    5. Wen Chen & Philippe Roelli & Aqeel Ahmed & Sachin Verlekar & Huatian Hu & Karla Banjac & Magalí Lingenfelder & Tobias J. Kippenberg & Giulia Tagliabue & Christophe Galland, 2021. "Intrinsic luminescence blinking from plasmonic nanojunctions," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 12(1), pages 1-9, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ling Tong & Zhou Yu & Yi-Jing Gao & Xiao-Chong Li & Ju-Fang Zheng & Yong Shao & Ya-Hao Wang & Xiao-Shun Zhou, 2023. "Local cation-tuned reversible single-molecule switch in electric double layer," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-10, December.
    2. Hao Shi & Tanyuan Wang & Jianyun Liu & Weiwei Chen & Shenzhou Li & Jiashun Liang & Shuxia Liu & Xuan Liu & Zhao Cai & Chao Wang & Dong Su & Yunhui Huang & Lior Elbaz & Qing Li, 2023. "A sodium-ion-conducted asymmetric electrolyzer to lower the operation voltage for direct seawater electrolysis," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-11, December.
    3. Yong Zhang & Feifei Chen & Xinyi Yang & Yiran Guo & Xinghua Zhang & Hong Dong & Weihua Wang & Feng Lu & Zunming Lu & Hui Liu & Hui Liu & Yao Xiao & Yahui Cheng, 2025. "Electronic metal-support interaction modulates Cu electronic structures for CO2 electroreduction to desired products," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 16(1), pages 1-12, December.
    4. Xiao-Ting Yin & En-Ming You & Ru-Yu Zhou & Li-Hong Zhu & Wei-Wei Wang & Kai-Xuan Li & De-Yin Wu & Yu Gu & Jian-Feng Li & Bing-Wei Mao & Jia-Wei Yan, 2024. "Unraveling the energy storage mechanism in graphene-based nonaqueous electrochemical capacitors by gap-enhanced Raman spectroscopy," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-12, December.
    5. Peng Li & Ya-Ling Jiang & Yana Men & Yu-Zhou Jiao & Shengli Chen, 2025. "Kinetic cation effect in alkaline hydrogen electrocatalysis and double layer proton transfer," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 16(1), pages 1-12, December.
    6. Jin Ming Wang & Qin Yao Zhu & Jeong Heon Lee & Tae Gyun Woo & Yue Xing Zhang & Woo-Dong Jang & Tae Kyu Kim, 2023. "Asymmetric gradient orbital interaction of hetero-diatomic active sites for promoting C − C coupling," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-13, December.
    7. Cong Zhao & Jiazheng Diao & Zhao Liu & Jie Hao & Suhang He & Shaojia Li & Xingxing Li & Guangwu Li & Qiang Fu & Chuancheng Jia & Xuefeng Guo, 2024. "Electrical monitoring of single-event protonation dynamics at the solid-liquid interface and its regulation by external mechanical forces," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-9, December.
    8. Chao-Yu Li & Ming Chen & Shuai Liu & Xinyao Lu & Jinhui Meng & Jiawei Yan & Héctor D. Abruña & Guang Feng & Tianquan Lian, 2022. "Unconventional interfacial water structure of highly concentrated aqueous electrolytes at negative electrode polarizations," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-10, December.
    9. Chongyang Tang & Cong Wei & Yanyan Fang & Bo Liu & Xianyin Song & Zenan Bian & Xuanwei Yin & Hongbo Wang & Zhaohui Liu & Gongming Wang & Xiangheng Xiao & Xiangfeng Duan, 2024. "Electrocatalytic hydrogenation of acetonitrile to ethylamine in acid," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-9, December.
    10. Yan Shen & Nan Fang & Xinru Liu & Yu Ling & Yuming Su & Tian Tan & Feng Chen & He Lin & Boxuan Zhao & Jin Wang & Duanhui Si & Shunji Xie & Ye Wang & Da Zhou & Teng Zhang & Rong Cao & Cheng Wang, 2025. "Observation of metal-organic interphase in Cu-based electrochemical CO2-to-ethanol conversion," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 16(1), pages 1-18, December.
    11. Xue-Peng Yang & Zhi-Zheng Wu & Ye-Cheng Li & Shu-Ping Sun & Yu-Cai Zhang & Jing-Wen Duanmu & Pu-Gan Lu & Xiao-Long Zhang & Fei-Yue Gao & Yu Yang & Ye-Hua Wang & Peng-Cheng Yu & Shi-Kuo Li & Min-Rui Ga, 2025. "Atomically dispersed cerium on copper tailors interfacial water structure for efficient CO-to-acetate electroreduction," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 16(1), pages 1-13, December.
    12. Xing Zhao & Xiaojing Liu & Dexiang Chen & Guodong Shi & Guoqun Li & Xiao Tang & Xiangnan Zhu & Mingze Li & Lei Yao & Yunjia Wei & Wenzhe Song & Zixuan Sun & Xingce Fan & Zhixin Zhou & Teng Qiu & Qi Ha, 2024. "Plasmonic trimers designed as SERS-active chemical traps for subtyping of lung tumors," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-11, December.
    13. Qian Zhang & Bo Gao & Ling Zhang & Xiaopeng Liu & Jixiang Cui & Yijun Cao & Hongbo Zeng & Qun Xu & Xinwei Cui & Lei Jiang, 2023. "Anomalous water molecular gating from atomic-scale graphene capillaries for precise and ultrafast molecular sieving," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-10, December.
    14. Xiaoyang He & Li Lin & Xiangying Li & Minzhi Zhu & Qinghong Zhang & Shunji Xie & Bingbao Mei & Fanfei Sun & Zheng Jiang & Jun Cheng & Ye Wang, 2024. "Roles of copper(I) in water-promoted CO2 electrolysis to multi-carbon compounds," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-12, December.
    15. Chengcheng Zhu & Li Xu & Yazi Liu & Jiang Liu & Jin Wang & Hanjun Sun & Ya-Qian Lan & Chen Wang, 2024. "Polyoxometalate-based plasmonic electron sponge membrane for nanofluidic osmotic energy conversion," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-13, December.
    16. Xiaoju Yang & Chao Rong & Li Zhang & Zhenkun Ye & Zhiming Wei & Chengdi Huang & Qiao Zhang & Qing Yuan & Yueming Zhai & Fu-Zhen Xuan & Bingjun Xu & Bowei Zhang & Xuan Yang, 2024. "Mechanistic insights into C-C coupling in electrochemical CO reduction using gold superlattices," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-11, December.
    17. Meijia Qiu & Peng Sun & Kai Han & Zhenjiang Pang & Jun Du & Jinliang Li & Jian Chen & Zhong Lin Wang & Wenjie Mai, 2023. "Tailoring water structure with high-tetrahedral-entropy for antifreezing electrolytes and energy storage at −80 °C," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-10, December.
    18. Yining Sun & Kui Fan & Jinze Li & Lei Wang & Yusen Yang & Zhenhua Li & Mingfei Shao & Xue Duan, 2024. "Boosting electrochemical oxygen reduction to hydrogen peroxide coupled with organic oxidation," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-12, December.
    19. Zhihao Cui & Xing’an Dong & Sung Gu Cho & Modeste N. Tegomoh & Weidong Dai & Fan Dong & Anne C. Co, 2022. "Unraveling the electrocatalytic reduction mechanism of enols on copper in aqueous media," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-12, December.
    20. Zhenyu Yang & Pierre-André Cazade & Jin-Liang Lin & Zhou Cao & Ningyue Chen & Dongdong Zhang & Lian Duan & Christian A. Nijhuis & Damien Thompson & Yuan Li, 2023. "High performance mechano-optoelectronic molecular switch," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-10, December.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:16:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-025-58578-9. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.