Heavily doped semiconductors have
recently emerged as a remarkable
class of plasmonic alternative to conventional noble metals; however,
controlled manipulation of their surface plasmon bands toward short
wavelengths, especially in the visible light spectrum, still remains
a challenge. Here we demonstrate that hydrogen doped given MoO<sub>3</sub> and WO<sub>3</sub> via a facile H-spillover approach, namely,
hydrogen bronzes, exhibit strong localized surface plasmon resonances
in the visible light region. Through variation of their stoichiometric
compositions, tunable plasmon resonances could be observed in a wide
range, which hinge upon the reduction temperatures, metal species,
the nature and the size of metal oxide supports in the synthetic H<sub>2</sub> reduction process as well as oxidation treatment in the postsynthetic
process. Density functional theory calculations unravel that the intercalation
of hydrogen atoms into the given host structures yields appreciable
delocalized electrons, enabling their plasmonic properties. The plasmonic
hybrids show potentials in heterogeneous catalysis, in which visible
light irradiation enhanced catalytic performance toward <i>p</i>-nitrophenol reduction relative to dark condition. Our findings provide
direct evidence for achieving plasmon resonances in hydrogen doped
metal oxide semiconductors, and may allow large-scale applications
with low-price and earth-abundant elements
