Studying the Generation of Hot Electrons in Plasmonic Nanoparticle Monolayers

Abstract

Hot electrons are generated from the decay of LSPR modes. Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy is used to monitor hot electron generation using a dehalogenation reaction. In this thesis, Ag, Au, and AuAg nanoparticle substrates were produced and coated with halogenated thiophenols. The dipole and coupled LSPR modes associated with the nanoparticle substrate both generate hot electrons under illumination. The hot electron yield was determined for each LSPR modes. It was found that the dipole LSPR mode produced a larger yield of hot electrons than the coupled LSPR mode. The enhanced hot electron yield for the dipole mode was reported for both Ag-slides and AuAg-slides; additionally, the same result was obtained for both halogenated thiophenols. This work shows that the dipole LSPR mode is more suitable for the generation of hot electron than the coupled mode. Additional work is required to make the coupled LSPR mode an efficient hot electron generator.