We model the enhancement of near band edge emission from ZnO nanorods using plasmonic metal nanoparticles and compare it with emission enhancement from ZnO with semiconducting quantum dots. Selected CdSe quantum dots with absorption energies close to those of Ag and Au nanoparticles are chosen to construct model systems with ZnO to comprehend the role of ZnO’s intrinsic defects and plasmonic excitation in realizing the spectrally selective luminescence enhancement. Excitation wavelength dependent photoluminescence spectra along with theoretical models quantifying the related transitions and plasmonic absorption reveal that a complex mechanism of charge transfer between the ZnO nanorods and metal nanoparticles or quantum dots is essential along with an optimal energy band alignment for realizing emission enhancement. The theoretical model presented also provides a direct method of quantifying the relative transition rate constants associated with various electronic transitions in ZnO and their change upon the incorporation of plasmonic nanoparticles. The results indicate that, while the presence of deep level defect states may facilitate the essential charge transfer process between ZnO and the plasmonic nanoparticles, their presence alone does not guarantee UV emission enhancement and strong plasmonic coupling between the two systems. The results offer clues to designing novel multicomponent systems with coupled plasmonic and charge transfer effects for applications in charge localization, energy harvesting, and luminescence enhancement, especially in electrically triggered nanophotonic applications.
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Interaction of ZnO nanorods with plasmonic metal nanoparticles and semiconductor quantum dots
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14 February 2020
Research Article|
February 10 2020
Interaction of ZnO nanorods with plasmonic metal nanoparticles and semiconductor quantum dots
Special Collection:
Emerging Directions in Plasmonics
K. N. Prajapati
;
K. N. Prajapati
a)
1
School of Physics, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research
, Thiruvananthapuram 695551, India
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Ben Johns
;
Ben Johns
1
School of Physics, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research
, Thiruvananthapuram 695551, India
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K. Bandopadhyay
;
K. Bandopadhyay
2
Department of Functional Materials, Łukasiewicz Research Network—Institute of Electronic Materials Technology
, Wolczynska 133, Warsaw, Poland
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S. Ravi P. Silva
;
S. Ravi P. Silva
3
Advanced Technology Institute, University of Surrey
, Guildford GU2 7XH, United Kingdom
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J. Mitra
J. Mitra
b)
1
School of Physics, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research
, Thiruvananthapuram 695551, India
b)Author to whom correspondence should be addressed: j.mitra@iisertvm.ac.in
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a)
E-mail: krishnagkp12114@iisertvm.ac.in
b)Author to whom correspondence should be addressed: j.mitra@iisertvm.ac.in
Note: This paper is part of the JCP Special Topic on Emerging Directions in Plasmonics.
J. Chem. Phys. 152, 064704 (2020)
Article history
Received:
November 15 2019
Accepted:
January 22 2020
Citation
K. N. Prajapati, Ben Johns, K. Bandopadhyay, S. Ravi P. Silva, J. Mitra; Interaction of ZnO nanorods with plasmonic metal nanoparticles and semiconductor quantum dots. J. Chem. Phys. 14 February 2020; 152 (6): 064704. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5138944
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