Thermal energy harvesting near-infrared radiation and accessing low temperatures with plasmonic sensors

Chemically engineered plasmonic Au-gallium oxide nanocomposites for harsh environment applications: an investigation into thermal and chemical robustness

Enhanced thermal, chemical, and mechanical properties of different metal nanoparticle morphologies integrated with metal oxides have been reported in multiple instances. The chemical and material robustness of metal nanoparticles incorporated surficially and into the bulk of distinct as well as spontaneously formed morphologies of metal oxides through solution-based and microwave-based approaches are investigated in this study. These composites were tested for their chemical and material robustness by exposing films formed on quartz substrates to high temperatures (800 °C) in an air ambient as well as to extreme conditions of pH, often encountered in harsh environment applications such as sensing and catalysis. The changes in the optical properties and crystallinity have been studied using in situ absorption and ex situ X-ray diffraction analyses and electron microscopy. The trends observed with respect to the changes in the plasmonic absorbance were validated theoretically and found to be in reasonable agreement with the experimental data. Confirmations of the phenomena occurring in different morphologies and architectures were thereby corroborated through careful interpretations from experiments and predictions from theoretical models. We, therefore, report a simple solution-based process for achieving engineered harsh environment-compatible nanocomposites through studies specifically tailored for such applications such as catalysis, sensing, energy storage, and enhanced luminescence.

High Sensitivity Plasmonic Sensing of Hydrogen over a Broad Dynamic Range Using Catalytic Au-CeO2 Thin Film Nanocomposites

Next-generation gas-sensor technologies are needed for diverse applications including environmental surveillance, occupational safety, and industrial process control. However, the dynamic range using existing sensors is often too narrow to meet demands. In this work, plasmonic films of Au-CeO₂ that detect hydrogen with 0.38% and 60% lower and upper detection limits in an oxygen-free atmosphere experiment are demonstrated. The observed 15 nm peak shift was 4 times stronger versus other plasmonic H₂ sensors. The proposed sensing mechanism that involves H₂ dissociation by Au^δ+ nanoparticles was validated using XPS, kinetics, and Arrhenius studies. Our understanding of this remarkable sensing behavior in oxygen-free conditions opens new horizons for packaging, art conservation, industrial process control, and other applications where conventional oxygen-dependent sensors lack broad dynamic range.

Plasmonic Conducting Metal Oxide-Based Optical Fiber Sensors for Chemical and Intermediate Temperature-Sensing Applications

The demand for real-time sensors in harsh environments at elevated temperature is significant and increasing. In this manuscript, the chemical and temperature sensing using the optical response through the practical fiber platform is demonstrated, and principle component analysis is coupled with targeted experimental film characterization to understand the fundamental sensing layer properties, which dominate measured gas sensing responses in complex gas mixtures. More specifically, tin-doped indium oxide-decorated sensors fabricated with the sol-gel method show stable and stepwise transmission responses varying over a wide range of H₂ concentration (5-100%) at 250-350 °C as well as responses to CH₄ and CO to a lesser extent. Measured responses are attributed to modifications to the surface plasmon resonance absorption in the near-infrared range and are dominated by the highest concentrations of the most-reducing analyte based upon systematic mixed gas stream experiments. Principal component analysis is utilized for this type of sensor to improve the quantitative and qualitative understanding of responses, clearly identifying that the dominant principle component (PC #1) accounts for ∼78% of total data variance. Correlations between PC #1 and the experimentally derived free carrier concentration confirm that this material property plays the strongest role on the ITO gas sensing mechanism, while correlations between the free carrier mobility and the second most important principle component (PC #2) suggest that this quantity may play a significant but secondary role. As such, the results presented here clarify the relationship between generalized principle components and fundamental sensing materials properties thereby suggesting the pathway toward improved multicomponent gas speciation through sensor layer engineering. The work presented represents a significant step toward the ultimate objective of optical waveguide sensors integrated with multivariate data analytics for multiparameter monitoring with a single sensor element.

Thermal Emissivity-Based Chemical Spectroscopy through Evanescent Tunneling

A new spectroscopic technique is presented, with which environmentalchemistry-induced thermal emissivity changes of thin films are extracted with high isolation through evanescent tunneling. With this method the hydrogen-induced emissivity changes of films of TiO2 , Pd-TiO2 , and Au-TiO2 , with properties of high conductivity, hydrogen chemisorption, and plasmonic activity, are characterized in the UV-vis and NIR wavelength ranges, at 1073 K.