Distinguishing between plasmon-induced and photoexcited carriers in a device geometry.

ABSTRACT: The use of surface plasmons, charge density oscillations of conduction electrons of metallic nanostructures, to boost the efficiency of light-harvesting devices through increased light-matter interactions could drastically alter how sunlight is converted into electricity or fuels. These excitations can decay directly into energetic electron-hole pairs, useful for photocurrent generation or photocatalysis. However, the mechanisms behind plasmonic carrier generation remain poorly understood. Here we use nanowire-based hot-carrier devices on a wide-bandgap semiconductor to show that plasmonic carrier generation is proportional to internal field-intensity enhancement and occurs independently of bulk absorption. We also show that plasmon-induced hot electrons have higher energies than carriers

SUBMITTER: Zheng BY 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4510964 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature