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Title: Plasmonic materials for energy: From physics to applications

Journal Article · · Materials Today
 [1];  [1];  [1]
  1. Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States). Mechanical Engineering Dept.

Physical mechanisms unique to plasmonic materials, which can be exploited for the existing and emerging applications of plasmonics for renewable energy technologies, are reviewed. The hybrid nature of surface plasmon (SP) modes – propagating surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) and localized surface plasmons (LSPs) – as collective photon–electron oscillations makes them attractive candidates for energy applications. A high density of optical states in the vicinity of plasmonic structures enhances light absorption and emission, enables localized heating, and drives near-field heat exchange between hot and cold surfaces. SP modes channel the energy of absorbed photons directly to the free electrons, and the generated hot electrons can be utilized in thermoelectric, photovoltaic and photo-catalytic platforms. The advantages and disadvantages of using plasmonics over conventional technologies for solar energy and waste heat harvesting are discussed, and areas where plasmonics is expected to lead to performance improvements not achievable by other methods are identified.

Research Organization:
Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
Grant/Contract Number:
SC0001299; FG02-09ER46577; FG02-02ER45977
OSTI ID:
1387787
Journal Information:
Materials Today, Vol. 16, Issue 10; ISSN 1369-7021
Publisher:
ElsevierCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 254 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (43)

Large patternable metal nanoparticle sheets by photo/e-beam lithography journal October 2017
Thin-film ‘Thermal Well’ Emitters and Absorbers for High-Efficiency Thermophotovoltaics journal June 2015
A Rapid Response Thin-Film Plasmonic-Thermoelectric Light Detector journal November 2016
Plasmonic Black Metasurface by Transfer Printing journal July 2018
Thermally triggered nanorocket from double-walled carbon nanotube in water journal October 2018
High-Efficiency, Extreme-Numerical-Aperture Metasurfaces Based on Partial Control of the Phase of Light journal September 2018
Optical nanoheating of resonant silicon nanoparticles journal January 2019
Roadmap on plasmonics journal March 2018
Plasmon-enhanced light harvesting: applications in enhanced photocatalysis, photodynamic therapy and photovoltaics journal January 2015
Electrically tunable near-field radiative heat transfer via ferroelectric materials journal December 2014
Rationally Programmable Paper‐Based Artificial Trees Toward Multipath Solar‐Driven Water Extraction from Liquid/Solid Substrates journal May 2019
Plasmonic vesicles with tailored collective properties journal January 2018
Broadband wide-angle polarization-insensitive metasurface solar absorber journal January 2018
Silver-Copper Oxide Heteronanostructures for the Plasmonic-Enhanced Photocatalytic Oxidation of N-Hexane in the Visible-NIR Range journal November 2019
Phonon Polaritons and Hyperbolic Response in van der Waals Materials journal November 2019
Sub-diffractional waveguiding by mid-infrared plasmonic resonators in semiconductor nanowires journal January 2018
Localized photodeposition of catalysts using nanophotonic resonances in silicon photocathodes journal January 2018
Plasmon-induced efficient hot carrier generation in graphene on gold ultrathin film with periodic array of holes: Ultrafast pump-probe spectroscopy journal December 2019
Fast and slow propagations of surface plasmon polaritons on metallic mesh gratings journal September 2018
Micro- and Nanostructured Surfaces for Selective Solar Absorption journal May 2015
Plasmonic photocatalyst-like fluorescent proteins for generating reactive oxygen species journal March 2018
Interfacial Solar‐to‐Heat Conversion for Desalination journal April 2019
The Influence of Particle Size Distribution and Shell Imperfections on the Plasmon Resonance of Au and Ag Nanoshells journal August 2016
Giant and explosive plasmonic bubbles by delayed nucleation journal July 2018
Heat meets light on the nanoscale journal January 2016
Thermal Emissivity-Based Chemical Spectroscopy through Evanescent Tunneling journal February 2016
Plasmon-enhanced hierarchical photoelectrodes with mechanical flexibility for hydrogen generation from urea solution and human urine journal November 2019
Steam generation under one sun enabled by a floating structure with thermal concentration journal August 2016
Hybrid plasmonic metasurfaces journal October 2019
Materials and design of nanostructured broadband light absorbers for advanced light-to-heat conversion journal January 2018
Unified theory of plasmon-induced resonance energy transfer and hot electron injection processes for enhanced photocurrent efficiency journal November 2018
Generation of hot electrons in nanostructures incorporating conventional and unconventional plasmonic materials journal January 2019
The Influence of Particle Size Distribution and Shell Imperfections on the Plasmon Resonance of Au and Ag Nanoshells text January 2017
A Rapid Response Thin-Film Plasmonic-Thermoelectric Light Detector text January 2016
Thin-film 'Thermal Well' Emitters and Absorbers for High-Efficiency Thermophotovoltaics preprint January 2015
Heat meets light on the nanoscale text January 2016
Losses in plasmonics: from mitigating energy dissipation to embracing loss-enabled functionalities text January 2018
Self-Optimized Catalysts: Hot-Electron Driven Photosynthesis of Catalytic Photocathodes journal September 2019
Ultra-broadband enhancement of nonlinear optical processes from randomly patterned super absorbing metasurfaces journal June 2017
Systematic characterization of the effect of Ag@TiO2 nanoparticles on the performance of plasmonic dye-sensitized solar cells journal November 2017
Photodetection Characteristics of Gold Coated AFM Tips and n-Silicon Substrate nano-Schottky Interfaces journal September 2019
Silver-copper oxide heteronanostructures for the plasmonic-enhanced photocatalytic oxidation of N-hexane in the visible-NIR range text January 2019
Plasmonic Bubble Nucleation and Growth in Water: Effect of Dissolved Air text January 2020

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