The increasing attention toward the use of light in chemical processes is due to the technological and scientific interest in making use of inexpensive solar energy.

Thus, there is a need for development of new bottom-up systems with efficient light harvesting capacity to facilitate relevant chemical reactions. In recent collaborative article, the researchers from Bionanoplasmonic and Biosensing groups reported on photocatalytic regeneration of cofactor molecules using plasmonic particles of different shapes. Researchers have shown that macroscopic plasmonic substrates comprising gold nanostars exhibit better efficiencies than nanorods or cubes. The interplay of photochemical, photoelectrochemical measurements, supported by theoretical simulations, showed that the unique geometry of nanostars – radially distributed spikes – contributes to stronger light absorption by the plasmonic film containing that type of nanoparticles

http://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2016/ta/c6ta01770