Plasmon excitation, photochemical

It is a very interesting question which additional modifications are introduced if one uses nanoparticles instead of surfaces of bulk materials. As our earlier review [13] has summarized, for MNPs new electronic excitations - notably the Mie or particle Plasmon [20] - can be expected to feed photochemical reactions on the MNPs. But also the lifetimes and thus the reactivity of excited states may be changed by going to nanoparticles the main expected effect here is the confinement of excitations in the small particles, which would quickly disperse in the volume in bulk materials [13]. 

There is also an enhancement of o off the plasmon resonance, albeit weaker, which we interpret as due to confinement of excitations, here of hot electrons in the Ag NP. The photochemical mechanism of all the processes seen is believed to involve TNI states [87, 94], which is consistent with detailed characterizations... 

Plasmon mediated electron transfer involving direct injection of the hot electrons from plasmonic-metal nanoparticles to close-lying semiconductors has been demonstrated in devices where Au nanoparticles were anchored on a Ti02 nanowires scaffold. Such hot electrons exhibit a lifetime 1 to 2 orders of magnitude longer than those excited within the nanowires themselves. Advancement in this direction is of fundamental significance because it makes possible photochemical reactions at the semiconductor surface against electron/hole recombination. ... 

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