(Invited) Designing Plasmonic Photocatalysts

Nanostructured surfaces and colloids with designed optical functionalities - such as plasmonic and photonic nano and metamaterials - allow efficient harvesting of light at the nanoscale. Exploiting light-driven matter excitations in these artificial materials opens up a new dimension in the conversion and management of energy at the nanoscale [1-4]. One example are plasmonic and photonic catalysts, that can indeed confine solar energy into molecular regions [4-11]. In this talk, I will present our recent efforts in order to understand the intricate realm of losses in plasmonic nanoparticles by studying this issue at the single-particle level. I will present a series of studies trying to correlate plasmonic photocatalytic activity with reactivity, temperature and field at the nanoscale. Our fundamental understanding of light-matter interaction in these systems can hopefully contribute to the rational design of future nanocatalysts; influencing diverse applications such as photocatalysis and temperature management, among others [1-11]. References [1] E. Cortés, Nature 614, 230-232 (2023) [2] E. Cortés, et al. Nature Rev. Chem., 6, 259–274 (2022) [3] E. Cortés, et al. Chem. Rev. 122, 15082–76 (2022) [4] S. Ezendam, et al. ACS Energy Letters, 7, 778-815 (2022) [5] M. Herran, et al. Adv. Funct. Mat., 2203418 (2022) [6] J. Gargiulo, et al. Nature Communications 14, 3813 (2023) [7] L. Nan, et al. Nano Letters 23 (7), 2883–2889 (2023) [8] A. Stefancu, et al. ACS Nano 17 (3), 3119–3127 (2023) [9] L. Hüttenhofer, et al., Adv. Energy Mat., 46, 2102877 (2021) [10] M. Herran, et al. Nature Catalysis, accepted (2023) [11] S. Ezendam, et al. ACS Nano, accepted (2023)