A novel route to visualize the hot electron transfer process in Ag@SiO2-TiO2 for solar-hydrogen conversion

•A novel approach was presented to visualize the migration process of hot electrons.•Hot electrons injection in Ag@SiO2-TiO2 was characterized by multiphysics coupling.•The injected hot electrons can supply energy to photogenerated electrons in TiO2.•Thin (2 nm) SiO2 shell allows a large number of hot electrons migration through it.•Hot electrons can be effectively collected and utilized in Ag@SiO2 (2 nm)-TiO2.