Isotope Effects in Plasmonic Photosynthesis

The photoexcitation of plasmonic nanoparticles has been shown to drive multistep, multicarrier transformations, such as the conversion of CO₂ into hydrocarbons. But for such plasmon-driven chemistry to be precisely understood and modeled, the critical photoinitiation step in the reaction cascade must be identified. We meet this goal by measuring H/D and ¹²C/¹³C kinetic isotope effects (KIEs) in plasmonic photosynthesis. In particular, we found that the substitution of H₂O with D₂O slows hydrocarbon production by a factor of 5–8. This primary H/D KIE leads to the inference that hole-driven scission of the O−H bond in H₂O is a critical, limiting step in plasmonic photosynthesis. This study advances mechanistic understanding of light-driven chemical reactions on plasmonic nanoparticles.