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

Hot electron generation by aluminum oligomers in plasmonic ultraviolet photodetectors

We report on an integrated plasmonic ultraviolet (UV) photodetector composed of aluminum Fano-resonant heptamer nanoantennas deposited on a Gallium Nitride (GaN) active layer which is grown on a sapphire substrate to generate significant photocurrent via formation of hot electrons by nanoclusters upon the decay of nonequilibrium plasmons. Using the plasmon hybridization theory and finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method, it is shown that the generation of hot carriers by metallic clusters illuminated by UV beam leads to a large photocurrent. The induced Fano resonance (FR) minimum across the UV spectrum allows for noticeable enhancement in the absorption of optical power yielding a plasmonic UV photodetector with a high responsivity. It is also shown that varying the thickness of the oxide layer (Al₂O₃) around the nanodisks (tox) in a heptamer assembly adjusted the generated photocurrent and responsivity. The proposed plasmonic structure opens new horizons for designing and fabricating efficient opto-electronics devices with high gain and responsivity.

Planar microcavity-integrated hot-electron photodetector

Hot-electron photodetectors are attracting increasing interest due to their capability in below-bandgap photodetection without employing classic semiconductor junctions. Despite the high absorption in metallic nanostructures via plasmonic resonance, the fabrication of such devices is challenging and costly due to the use of high-dimensional sub-wavelength nanostructures. In this study, we propose a planar microcavity-integrated hot-electron photodetector (MC-HE PD), in which the TCO/semiconductor/metal (TCO: transparent conductive oxide) structure is sandwiched between two asymmetrically distributed Bragg reflectors (DBRs) and a lossless buffer layer. Finite-element simulations demonstrate that the resonant wavelength and the absorption efficiency of the device can be manipulated conveniently by tailoring the buffer layer thickness and the number of top DBR pairs. By benefitting from the largely increased electric field at the resonance frequency, the absorption in the metal can reach 92%, which is a 21-fold enhancement compared to the reference without a microcavity. Analytical probability-based electrical calculations further show that the unbiased responsivity can be up to 239 nA mW(-1), which is more than an order of magnitude larger than that of the reference. Furthermore, the MC-HE PD not only exhibits a superior photoelectron conversion ability compared to the approach with corrugated metal, but also achieves the ability to tune the near infrared multiband by employing a thicker buffer layer.

Fundamental Limitations to Plasmonic Hot-Carrier Solar Cells

Detailed balance between photon-absorption and energy loss constrains the efficiency of conventional solar cells to the Shockley-Queisser limit. However, if solar illumination can be absorbed over a wide spectrum by plasmonic structures, and the generated hot-carriers can be collected before relaxation, the efficiency of solar cells may be greatly improved. In this work, we explore the opportunities and limitations for making plasmonic solar cells, here considering a design for hot-carrier solar cells in which a conventional semiconductor heterojunction is attached to a plasmonic medium such as arrays of gold nanoparticles. The underlying mechanisms and fundamental limitations of this cell are studied using a nonequilibrium Green's function method, and the numerical results indicate that this cell can significantly improve the absorption of solar radiation without reducing open-circuit voltage, as photons can be absorbed to produce mobile carriers in the semiconductor as long as they have energy larger than the Schottky barrier rather than above the bandgap. However, a significant fraction of the hot-carriers have energies below the Schottky barrier, which makes the cell suffer low internal quantum efficiency. Moreover, quantum efficiency is also limited by hot-carrier relaxation and metal-semiconductor coupling. The connection of these results to recent experiments is described, showing why plasmonic solar cells can have less than 1% efficiency.

Spectrally Selective Photocapacitance Modulation in Plasmonic Nanochannels for Infrared Imaging

The optical response of subwavelength plasmonic structures can be used to monitor minute changes in their physical, chemical, and biological environments with high performance for sensing. The optical response in the far field is governed by the near-field properties of plasmon resonances. Sharp, tunable resonances can be obtained by controlling the shape of the structure and by using resonant cavities. However, microintegration of plasmonic structures on chips is difficult because of the readout in the far field. As such, structures that form an electrical microcircuit and directly monitor the near-field variation would be more desirable. Here, we report on an electronically readable photocapacitor based on a plasmonic nanochannel structure with high spectral resolution and a large modulation capability. The structure consists of metallic U-cavities and semiconductor channels, which are used to focus and confine light at the semiconductor-metal interfaces. At these interfaces, light is efficiently converted into photocarriers that change the electrical impedance of the structure. The capacitance modulation of the structure in response to light produces a light-to-dark contrast ratio larger than 10(3). A reflectance spectrum with a bandwidth of 16 nm and a 6% modulation depth is detected using a reactance variation of 3 kΩ with the same bandwidth. This photocapacitor design offers a practical means of monitoring changes induced by the near field and thus could be deployed in pixel arrays of image sensors for miniaturized spectroscopic applications.

Photoinduced Electron Transfer in the Strong Coupling Regime: Waveguide-Plasmon Polaritons

Reversible exchange of photons between a material and an optical cavity can lead to the formation of hybrid light-matter states where material properties such as the work function [ Hutchison et al. Adv. Mater. 2013 , 25 , 2481 - 2485 ], chemical reactivity [ Hutchison et al. Angew. Chem., Int. Ed. 2012 , 51 , 1592 - 1596 ], ultrafast energy relaxation [ Salomon et al. Angew. Chem., Int. Ed. 2009 , 48 , 8748 - 8751 ; Gomez et al. J. Phys. Chem. B 2013 , 117 , 4340 - 4346 ], and electrical conductivity [ Orgiu et al. Nat. Mater. 2015 , 14 , 1123 - 1129 ] of matter differ significantly to those of the same material in the absence of strong interactions with the electromagnetic fields. Here we show that strong light-matter coupling between confined photons on a semiconductor waveguide and localized plasmon resonances on metal nanowires modifies the efficiency of the photoinduced charge-transfer rate of plasmonic derived (hot) electrons into accepting states in the semiconductor material. Ultrafast spectroscopy measurements reveal a strong correlation between the amplitude of the transient signals, attributed to electrons residing in the semiconductor and the hybridization of waveguide and plasmon excitations.

Localized surface plasmon resonances dominated giant lateral photovoltaic effect observed in ZnO/Ag/Si nanostructure

We report substantially enlarged lateral photovoltaic effect (LPE) in the ZnO/Ag/Si nanostructures. The maximum LPE sensitivity (55.05 mv/mm) obtained in this structure is about seven times larger than that observed in the control sample (7.88 mv/mm) of ZnO/Si. We attribute this phenomenon to the strong localized surface plasmon resonances (LSPRs) induced by nano Ag semicontinuous films. Quite different from the traditional LPE in PN junction type structures, in which light-generated carriers contributed to LPE merely depends on direct excitation of light in semiconductor, this work firstly demonstrates that, by introducing a super thin metal Ag in the interface between two different kinds of semiconductors, the nanoscale Ag embedded in the interface will produce strong resonance of localized field, causing extra intraband excitation, interband excitation and an enhanced direct excitation. As a consequence, these LSPRs dominated contributions harvest much more carriers, giving rise to a greatly enhanced LPE. In particular, this LSPRs-driven mechanism constitutes a sharp contrast to the traditional LPE operation mechanism. This work suggests a brand new LSPRs approach for tailoring LPE-based devices and also opens avenues of research within current photoelectric sensors area.

Ultrafast and Efficient Transport of Hot Plasmonic Electrons by Graphene for Pt Free, Highly Efficient Visible-Light Responsive Photocatalyst

We report that reduced graphene-coated gold nanoparticles (r-GO-AuNPs) are excellent visible-light-responsive photocatalysts for the photoconversion of CO2 into formic acid (HCOOH). The wavelength-dependent quantum and chemical yields of HCOOH shows a significant contribution of plasmon-induced hot electrons for CO2 photoconversion. Furthermore, the presence and reduced state of the graphene layers are critical parameters for the efficient CO2 photoconversion because of the electron mobility of graphene. With an excellent selectivity toward HCOOH (>90%), the quantum yield of HCOOH using r-GO-AuNPs is 1.52%, superior to that of Pt-coated AuNPs (quantum yield: 1.14%). This indicates that r-GO is a viable alternative to platinum metal. The excellent colloidal stability and photocatalytic stability of r-GO-AuNPs enables CO2 photoconversion under more desirable reaction conditions. These results highlight the role of reduced graphene layers as highly efficient electron acceptors and transporters to facilitate the use of hot electrons for plasmonic photocatalysts. The femtosecond transient spectroscopic analysis also shows 8.7 times higher transport efficiency of hot plasmonic electrons in r-GO-AuNPs compared with AuNPs.

Progress and Perspectives of Plasmon-Enhanced Solar Energy Conversion

Plasmonics allows extraordinary control of light, making it attractive for application in solar energy harvesting. In metal-semiconductor heterojunctions, plasmons can enhance photoconversion in the semiconductor via three mechanisms, including light trapping, hot electron/hole transfer, and plasmon-induced resonance energy transfer (PIRET). To understand the plasmonic enhancement, the metal's geometry, constituent metal, and interface must be viewed in terms of the effects on the plasmon's dephasing and decay route. To simplify design of plasmonic metal-semiconductor heterojunctions for high-efficiency solar energy conversion, the parameters controlling the plasmonic enhancement can be distilled to the dephasing time. The plasmonic geometry can then be further refined to optimize hot carrier transfer, PIRET, or light trapping.

Aluminum Nanocrystals as a Plasmonic Photocatalyst for Hydrogen Dissociation

Hydrogen dissociation is a critical step in many hydrogenation reactions central to industrial chemical production and pollutant removal. This step typically utilizes the favorable band structure of precious metal catalysts like platinum and palladium to achieve high efficiency under mild conditions. Here we demonstrate that aluminum nanocrystals (Al NCs), when illuminated, can be used as a photocatalyst for hydrogen dissociation at room temperature and atmospheric pressure, despite the high activation barrier toward hydrogen adsorption and dissociation. We show that hot electron transfer from Al NCs to the antibonding orbitals of hydrogen molecules facilitates their dissociation. Hot electrons generated from surface plasmon decay and from direct photoexcitation of the interband transitions of Al both contribute to this process. Our results pave the way for the use of aluminum, an earth-abundant, nonprecious metal, for photocatalysis.

Nonradiative Plasmon Decay and Hot Carrier Dynamics: Effects of Phonons, Surfaces, and Geometry

The behavior of metals across a broad frequency range from microwave to ultraviolet frequencies is of interest in plasmonics, nanophotonics, and metamaterials. Depending on the frequency, losses of collective excitations in metals can be predominantly classical resistive effects or Landau damping. In this context, we present first-principles calculations that capture all of the significant microscopic mechanisms underlying surface plasmon decay and predict the initial excited carrier distributions so generated. Specifically, we include ab initio predictions of phonon-assisted optical excitations in metals, which are critical to bridging the frequency range between resistive losses at low frequencies and direct interband transitions at high frequencies. In the commonly used plasmonic materials, gold, silver, copper, and aluminum, we find that resistive losses compete with phonon-assisted carrier generation below the interband threshold, but hot carrier generation via direct transitions dominates above threshold. Finally, we predict energy-dependent lifetimes and mean free paths of hot carriers, accounting for electron-electron and electron-phonon scattering, to provide insight toward transport of plasmonically generated carriers at the nanoscale.

Plasmon Field Effect Transistor for Plasmon to Electric Conversion and Amplification

Direct coupling of electronic excitations of optical energy via plasmon resonances opens the door to improving gain and selectivity in various optoelectronic applications. We report a new device structure and working mechanisms for plasmon resonance energy detection and electric conversion based on a thin film transistor device with a metal nanostructure incorporated in it. This plasmon field effect transistor collects the plasmonically induced hot electrons from the physically isolated metal nanostructures. These hot electrons contribute to the amplification of the drain current. The internal electric field and quantum tunneling effect at the metal-semiconductor junction enable highly efficient hot electron collection and amplification. Combined with the versatility of plasmonic nanostructures in wavelength tunability, this device architecture offers an ultrawide spectral range that can be used in various applications.

Interplay between plasmon and single-particle excitations in a metal nanocluster

Plasmon-generated hot carriers are used in photovoltaic or photochemical applications. However, the interplays between the plasmon and single-particle excitations in nanosystems have not been theoretically addressed using ab initio methods. Here we show such interplays in a Ag₅₅ nanocluster using real-time time-dependent density functional theory simulations. We find that the disappearance of the zero-frequency peak in the Fourier transform of the band-to-band transition coefficient is a hallmark of the plasmon. We show the importance of the d-states for hot-carrier generations. If the single-particle d-to-s excitations are resonant to the plasmon frequency, the majority of the plasmon energy will be converted into hot carriers, and the overall hot-carrier generation is enhanced by the plasmon; if such resonance does not exist, we observe an intriguing Rabi oscillation between the plasmon and hot carriers. Phonons play a minor role in plasmonic dynamics in such small systems. This study provides guidance on improving plasmonic applications.

Plasmons can enhance hot-carrier generation for efficient photochemical reactions, but the interplay between plasmons and single-particle excitations are difficult to capture in models. Here, the authors use real-time time-dependent density functional theory to study these interactions in silver nanocrystals.