Nanoparticle plasmons can serve as efficient generators of hot electrons and holes that can be exploited in a variety of light harvesting applications. The physical mechanism for plasmon-induced hot carrier generation is non-radiative plasmon decay which is a quantum mechanical process in which one plasmon quantum is transferred to the conduction electrons of the nanostructure by creating a hot electron-hole pair. These hot carriers can induce chemical transformations in molecules that are adsorbed on the nanoparticle. [1] In my talk, I will discuss the time-dependent relaxation of plasmon-induced hot carriers and highlight a few important reactions where the efficiency and selectivities of plasmon enhanced photocatalysis are orders of magnitude superior to conventional thermocatalysis [2-10].
References
[1] A. Stefancu, et al., 2024, Nature Phys. 20(2024)1065 and TBP
[2] L. Zhou et al., Nature Energy 5(2020)61
[3] M. Lou et al., ACS Energy Lett. 7(2022)3666
[5] Y. Yuan, et al., Science 378(2022)889
[6] Y. Yuan, et al., Nature Catal. 7(2024)1339
[7] P. Dhindsa, et al., ACS Energy Lett. 9(2024)6047
[8] Y. Gan et al, ACS Nano 19(2025)17006
[9] Y. Yuan et al, ACS Energy Lett. 10(2025)1099
[10] A. Ahmad et al, Nano Lett. 25(2025), https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.nanolett.5c03450
