Surface Plasmon Electrochemistry: Tutorial and Review

Abstract

Surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) are optical surface waves propagating along a metal surface. They exhibit attributes such as field enhancement and sub-wavelength localization, which make them attractive for surface sensing, as they are heavily exploited in surface plasmon biosensors. Electrochemistry also occurs on metal surfaces, and electrochemical techniques are also commonly applied in biosensors. As metal surfaces are integral in both, it is natural to combine these techniques into a single platform. Motivations include: (i) realising a multimodal biosensor (electrochemical and optical), (ii) using SPPs to probe the electrochemical double layer or to probe electrochemical activity, thus revealing complementary information on redox reactions, or (iii) using SPPs to pump electrochemical reactions by creating non-equilibrium energetic electrons and holes in a working electrode through the absorption of SPPs thereon. The latter is of interest as it may yield novel redox reaction pathways (i.e., plasmonic electrocatalysis).

Reflection and scattering of long-range surface plasmon-polaritons on boundary of free half-space

“…where M is the number of points accounted for axis x. Figure 4 demonstrates the application of the latter equation to the electric field determined by equations (B.1), (B.2) and to the magnetic field (13), (14); the corresponding norms of the function difference are NF and NΦ, respectively. Let us remind that integral equation (B.7) has been formulated for the electric field F. Thus, the convergence of this field is fast -the expansion composed of only a few terms is sufficient for NF to reach the value of the order of 10 −4 .…”

“…Unfortunately, long range propagation of the LRSPP as compared to the SRSPP and SIPP is associated with their reduced field confinement. Nevertheless, for some applications, lower losses are of more importance than weaker confinement (see, e.g., [7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15] ).…”

Improving Temperature-Sensing Performance of Photonic Crystal Fiber via External Metal-Coated Trapezoidal-Shaped Surface

“…Surface plasmon resonance (SPR) and surface plasmon polariton (SPP) are related to the collective oscillation of electrons known as plasmons, which occur at the interface of a metal and a dielectric material [1,2]. The effects of SPR refer to the phenomenon of enhanced light absorption and scattering at the interface of a metal and a dielectric material due to the excitation of plasmons, which have gained significant attention due to their promising applications in nanophotonics [3,4].…”