AI Article Synopsis
- Plasmonic materials can focus light into very small areas, making them useful for technologies like solar panels and sensors.
- A new method produces a hybrid thin film with gold nanoparticles (ranging from 2 to 20 nm) embedded in a titanium oxide matrix, optimizing light absorption.
- This combination allows for tunable optical properties and improved photocatalytic activity, providing a promising platform for advanced sensors and energy devices.
Article Abstract
The unique property of plasmonic materials to localize light into deep sub-wavelength regime has greatly driven various applications in the field of photovoltaics, sensors, and photocatalysis. Here, we demonstrate the one-step growth of an oxide-metal hybrid thin film incorporating well-dispersed gold (Au) nanoparticles (NPs) with tailorable particle shape and diameters (ranging from 2 to 20 nm) embedded in highly epitaxial TiO matrix, deposited using pulsed laser deposition. Incorporation of Au NPs reduces the band gap of TiO and enhances light absorption in the visible regime owing to the excitation of localized surface plasmons. Optical properties, including the plasmonic response and permittivity, and photocatalytic activities of the Au-TiO hybrid materials are effectively tuned as a function of the Au NP sizes. Such optical property tuning is well captured using full-field simulations and the effective medium theory for better understanding of the physical phenomena. The tailorable shape and size of Au NPs embedded in TiO matrix present a novel oxide-metal hybrid material platform for optical property tuning and highly efficient plasmonic properties for future oxide-based photocatalytic sensors and devices.
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| http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acsami.8b12210 | DOI Listing |
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