Fig. 4: Schematic diagram of the electrocatalytic CO2RR response of a AuNP under illumination (i.e. plasmon excitation) versus its reactivity under dark conditions.

While the response is dominated by the exposed crystal facets in dark, the FE(CO) highly enhances upon plasmon excitation and the significance of uncoordinated sites (i.e. edges, corners) appears to eclipse that of facets in the overall catalytic response.