Reactive tunnel junctions in electrically driven plasmonic nanorod metamaterials.

ABSTRACT: Non-equilibrium hot carriers formed near the interfaces of semiconductors or metals play a crucial role in chemical catalysis and optoelectronic processes. In addition to optical illumination, an efficient way to generate hot carriers is by excitation with tunnelling electrons. Here, we show that the generation of hot electrons makes the nanoscale tunnel junctions highly reactive and facilitates strongly confined chemical reactions that can, in turn, modulate the tunnelling processes. We designed a device containing an array of electrically driven plasmonic nanorods with up to 10¹¹ tunnel junctions per square centimetre, which demonstrates hot-electron activation of oxidation and reduction reactions in the junctions, induced by the presence of O₂ and H₂ mol

SUBMITTER: Wang P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5805091 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature