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

清洁能源收集和储存以及超灵敏化学分析需要新的表面和界面。该项目涉及设计超灵敏的贵金属尖端，用于在光电化学操作条件下研究固体半导体表面和界面。这些表面在贵金属纳米粒子存在下的光能吸收和转换能力可以在纳米尺度上解决。这项研究将精确量化有助于光能储存成化学键的表面增强因子，并允许与理论计算进行直接比较。这一研究结果将极大地帮助我们理解贵金属天线存在下的光-物质相互作用。教育活动包括科学培训、本科生研究体验和课堂模块演示，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。这些教育活动将有助于包容性的招募和培训以及保留代表性不足的少数民族学生。本研究将开发一种电化学无孔径等离子体天线技术和理论平台，用于研究等离子体纳米材料和光活性半导体在电化学操作条件下的相互作用。该系统的主要特点是具有单个等离子体纳米粒子的纳米电极，用于具有纳米空间分辨率的半导体电极的电化学、光学和表面拓扑成像。这项研究将通过实验验证在等离子体金属存在的情况下，光的吸收、电荷载流子的产生以及在化学键中的传输和储存。该研究设计创建了一个模型系统，可以适应多物理场模拟预测，并使光谱增强能力能够解决催化剂的局部氧化还原反应动力学。教育活动将与拟议的跨学科研究环境中的学生培训研究相结合。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识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.