Ultrafast Surface‐Plasmon‐Induced Photodimerization of p‐Aminothiophenol on Ag/TiO2 Nanoarrays

Surface‐plasmon‐induced photocatalysis has been of increasing interest as a thriving new paradigm for catalytic reactions, while the efficiency of such kind of reactions remains very limited on metal nanostructures. Herein, an ultrafast photodimerization of p‐aminothiophenol (PATP) into p,p′‐dimercaptobenzene (DMAB) was witnessed on the hybrid system of Ag/TiO2 by visible‐light laser excitation, even under inert gas atmosphere. Hot electrons generated from plasmonic decay would transfer to the conduction band of TiO2, which enables the holes (generated in the metal nanoparticles) to trigger the immediate PATP–DMAB conversion. We believe such ultrafast reaction process, with highly enhanced efficiency, will greatly promote the research and applications of the surface‐plasmon‐induced or assisted catalytic reactions.