Quantifying Photothermal and Hot Charge Carrier Effects in Plasmon-Driven Nanoparticle Syntheses.

The excitation of localized surface plasmon resonances in Au and Ag colloids can be used to drive the synthesis of complex nanostructures, such as anisotropic prisms, bipyramids, and core@shell nanoparticles. Yet, after two decades of research, it is challenging to paint a complete picture of the mechanisms driving such light-induced chemical transformations. In particular, whereas the injection of hot charge carriers from the metal nanoparticles is usually proposed as the dominant mechanism, the contribution of plasmon-induced heating can often not be neglected.