Three-Dimensional CdS/Au Butterfly Wing Scales with Hierarchical Rib Structures for Plasmon-Enhanced Photocatalytic Hydrogen Production

Localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) of plasmonic metals (e.g., Au) can help semiconductors improve their photocatalytic hydrogen (H₂) production performance. However, an artificial synthesis of hierarchical plasmonic structures down to nanoscales is usually difficult. Here, we adopt the butterfly wing scales from Morpho didius to fabricate three-dimensional (3D) CdS/Au butterfly wing scales for plasmonic photocatalysis. The as-prepared materials well-inherit the pristine hierarchical biostructures. The 3D CdS/Au butterfly wing scales exhibit a high H₂ production rate (221.8 μmol·h^–1 within 420–780 nm), showing a 241-fold increase over the CdS butterfly wing scales. This is attributed to the effective potentiation effect of LSPR introduced by multilayer metallic rib structures and a good interface bonding state between Au and CdS nanoparticles. Thus, our study provides a relatively simple method to learn from nature and inspiration for preparing highly efficient plasmonic photocatalysts.