Plasmonic near-touching titanium oxide nanoparticles to realize solar energy harvesting and effective local heating

Abstract

Through the excitation of plasmon resonance, the energy of plasmonic nanoparticles either reradiates through light scattering or decays into energetic electrons (absorption). The plasmon-induced absorption can greatly enhance the efficiency of solar energy harvesting, local heating, photodetection and photocatalysis. Here, we demonstrate that heavily self-doped titanium oxide nanoparticles (TiO1.67 analogue arising from oxygen vacancies in rutile TiO2) with the plasmon resonance dominated by an interband transition shows strong absorption to build a broadband perfect absorber in the wavelength range from 300 to 2000 nm covering the solar irradiation spectrum completely. The absorptivity of the fabricated array is greater than 90% in the whole spectral range. And the broadband and strong absorption is due to the plasmon hybridization and hot spot generation from near-touching TiO1.67 nanoparticles with different sizes. What is more, the local heating of a TiO1.67 nanoparticle layer is fast and effective. The temperature increases quickly from 30 °C to 80 °C within 200 seconds. This local heating can realize rapid solar-enabled evaporation which can find applications in large-scale distillation and seawater desalination. These findings actually open a pathway for applications of these newly developed plasmonic materials in the energy and environment fields.

Recent Advances in Surfactant‐Free, Surface‐Charged, and Defect‐Rich Catalysts Developed by Laser Ablation and Processing in Liquids

“…Bulk defects betweent he adjacent lattice planes are also observed (marked by dashedc ircles in Figure 10 a). [121] The existence andp ercentage of Ti 3 + (39.5 %) of TiO 1.67 was confirmed by Ramans pectroscopy,E ELS, XRD, and XPS measurements. Compared with annealed rutile TiO 2 , oxygen vacancies of the LAL-synthesized TiO 1.…”

“…The group of Yang also synthesized Ti 3 + ÀTiO 2 NPs by using an ear-IR laser (35 fs, l = 800 nm, 4mJpulse À1 )L AL of titaniumi nw ater. [121] HRTEM analysiss hows that several crystal orientationsc oexist in one region of the as-prepared NPs, as marked by yellow dashed arrows in Figure 10 a. Bulk defects betweent he adjacent lattice planes are also observed (marked by dashedc ircles in Figure 10 a).…”

“…Further increasing the laser energy will elongate the quenching time and, as a result, increase the transition rate from the Ti 5 O 9 metastable state to the TiO 2 stable state. The group of Yang also synthesized Ti 3+ −TiO 2 NPs by using a near‐IR laser (35 fs, λ =800 nm, 4 mJ pulse −1 ) LAL of titanium in water . HRTEM analysis shows that several crystal orientations coexist in one region of the as‐prepared NPs, as marked by yellow dashed arrows in Figure a.…”

“…HRTEM analysis shows that several crystal orientations coexist in one region of the as‐prepared NPs, as marked by yellow dashed arrows in Figure a. Bulk defects between the adjacent lattice planes are also observed (marked by dashed circles in Figure a) . The existence and percentage of Ti 3+ (39.5 %) of TiO 1.67 was confirmed by Raman spectroscopy, EELS, XRD, and XPS measurements.…”

Localized Defects on Copper Sulfide Surface for Enhanced Plasmon Resonance and Water Splitting

“…When metallic materials are irradiated by light, the free carriers at their surface usually make collective oscillations . The so‐called localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) effect can concentrate the incident light on the surface and improve the light harvesting significantly, which is prone to photocatalysis, photochemistry, photothermal therapy, and solar cells . For instance, LSPR effect of metallic nanoparticles has been applied in photoelectrochemical (PEC) device for water splitting so as to balance the long light‐absorption depth (approximately micrometer scale) and short carrier‐diffusion length (≈10 nm) .…”