Hot Carriers: Plasmonic Au/TiO2-Dumbbell-On-Film Nanocavities for High-Efficiency Hot-Carrier Generation and Extraction (Adv. Funct. Mater. 34/2018)

Plasmonics sensitization enables semiconductors absorbing sub-bandgap photons through the generation of hot carriers in metallic nanostructures and subsequent transfer to adjacent semiconductors. To that end, Dang Yuan Lei and co-workers present a Au@TiO2 dumbbell-on-film nanocavity in article number 1800383. Non-radiative decay of the localized surface plasmons in the dumbbell and the inter-band transitions in the Au film allow for dual-channel hot-carrier generation with the hot electrons from both channels being transferred to TiO2 for visible-light-driven photocatalysis.