Understanding the Nanoscale Interactions of Surface Plasmon Mediated Semiconductor Surfaces with Water and Light for Renewable Energy Harvesting and Conversion

需要用于清洁能量收集和存储以及用于超灵敏化学分析的新表面和界面。该项目涉及超灵敏贵金属针尖的设计，以研究光电化学操作条件下的固体半导体表面和界面。在贵金属纳米颗粒存在下，这些表面的光能吸收和转换能力可以在纳米尺度上解决。这项研究将精确地量化有助于将光能储存到化学键中的表面增强因子，并且还可以与理论计算进行直接比较。这一研究结果将极大地有助于理解贵金属天线存在下的光-物质相互作用。教育活动包括科学咖啡馆，本科生研究经验和课堂模块演示，以提高以学生为中心的学习和公众对纳米技术和清洁能源的认识。教育活动将有助于包容性的招聘和培训以及保留代表性不足的少数民族学生。本研究将开发电化学无孔等离子天线技术和理论平台，研究电化学操作条件下等离子纳米材料和光敏半导体的相互作用。该系统的关键特征是具有单个等离子体纳米颗粒的纳米电极，用于具有纳米空间分辨率的半导体电极的光电化学活性的电化学、光学和表面拓扑成像。这项研究将在实验上验证光吸收，电荷载流子产生，以及在等离子体金属存在下传输和存储到化学键中。研究设计创建了一个模型系统，可以适合多物理场模拟预测，也使光谱增强能力，解决本地氧化还原反应动力学的催化剂。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

New surfaces and interfaces for clean energy harvesting and storage and for ultrasensative chemical analysis are needed. This project involves design of ultrasensitive noble metal tips to investigate solid semiconductor surfaces and interfaces under photoelectrochemical operation conditions. Light energy absorption and conversion capabilities of these surfaces in the presence of noble metal nanoparticles can be resolved at the nanometer scale. This research would precisely quantify surface enhancement factors that contribute to light energy storage into chemical bonds, and also allow direct comparison with theoretical calculations. The results of this research would greatly help understand light-matter interactions in the presence of noble metal antenna. The education activities include science cafés, undergraduate research experience, and classroom module demonstrations to enhance student-centered learning and public awareness of nanotechnology and clean energy. The educational activities will help inclusive recruiting and training and the retention of underrepresented minority students.This research will develop an electrochemical apertureless plasmonic antenna technique and theoretical platform to study the interactions of plasmonic nanomaterials and photoactive semiconductors under electrochemical operation conditions. The key feature of this system is a nanoelectrode with a single plasmon nanoparticle for electrochemical, optical, and surface topology imaging of photoelectrochemical activities of a semiconductor electrode with nanometer spatial resolutions. This research would experimentally validate light absorption, charge carrier generation, and transport and storage into chemical bonds in the presence of a plasmonic metal. The research design creates a model system that can fit multiphysics simulation prediction and also enables spectroscopy enhancement capability for resolving local redox reaction kinetics of catalysts. The educational activities will be integrated with the proposed research for student training in an interdisciplinary research environment.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.