The efforts to produce photocatalysts operating efficiently under visible light have led to a number of plasmonic photocatalysts, in which noble metal nanoparticles are deposited on the surface of polar semiconductor or insulator particles. In the metal–semiconductor composite photocatalysts, the noble metal nanoparticles act as a major component for harvesting visible light due to their surface plasmon resonance while the metal–semiconductor interface efficiently separates the photogenerated electrons and holes. In this article, we survey various plasmonic photocatalysts that have been prepared and characterized in recent years.

A novel Ag/AgBr/BiOBr hybrid was prepared by a rational in situ ion exchange reaction between BiOBr hierarchical microspheres and AgNO₃ in ethylene glycol followed by light reduction, which displayed superior visible light driven photocatalytic activities in sterilization of pathogenic organism and degradation of organic dye compared to N-doped P25.