The creation of energetic electrons through plasmon excitation of nanostructures before thermalization has been proposed for a wide number of applications in optical energy conversion and ultrafast nanophotonics. However, the use of “nonthermal” electrons is primarily limited by both a low generation efficiency and their ultrafast decay. We report experimental and theoretical results on the use of broadband plasmonic nanopatch metasurfaces comprising a gold substrate coupled to silver nanocubes that produce large concentrations of hot electrons, which we measure using transient absorption spectroscopy. We find evidence for three subpopulations of nonthermal carriers, which we propose arise from anisotropic electron–electron scattering within sp-bands near the Fermi surface. The bimetallic character of the metasurface strongly impacts the physics, with dissipation occurring primarily in the gold, whereas the quantum process of hot electron generation takes place in both components. Our calculations show that the choice of geometry and materials is crucial for producing strong ultrafast nonthermal electron components.

Photoinduced charge-transfer (CT) processes play a key role in many systems, particularly those relevant to organic photovoltaics and photosynthesis. Advancing the understanding of CT processes calls for comparing their rates measured via state-of-the-art time-resolved interface-specific spectroscopic techniques with theoretical predictions based on first-principles molecular models. We measure charge-transfer rates across a boron subphthalocyanine chloride (SubPc)/C60 heterojunction, commonly used in organic photovoltaics, via heterodyne-detected time-resolved second-harmonic generation. We compare these results to theoretical predictions based on a Fermi's golden rule approach, with input parameters obtained using first-principles calculations for two different equilibrium geometries of a molecular donor-acceptor in a dielectric continuum model. The calculated rates (∼2 ps(-1)) overestimate the measured rates (∼0.1 ps(-1)), which is consistent with the expectation that the calculated rates represent an upper bound over the experimental ones. The comparison provides valuable understanding of how the structure of the electron donor-acceptor interface affects the CT kinetics in organic photovoltaic systems.

Films containing mixtures of zero- or two-dimensional nanostructures (quantum dots or nanoplatelets) were prepared in order to investigate the impacts of dimensionality on electronic interactions. Electron transfer from CsPbBr to CdSe was observed in all of the mixtures, regardless of particle dimensionality, and characterized via both static and transient absorption and photoluminescence spectroscopies. We find that mixtures containing nanoplatelets as the electron acceptor (CdSe) undergo charge transfer more rapidly than those containing quantum dots. We believe the faster charge transfer observed with nanoplatelets may arise from the extended spatial area of the CdSe nanoplatelets and/or the continuous density of acceptor states that are present in nanoplatelets. These results bolster the use of one- or two-dimensional nanomaterials in the place of zero-dimensional quantum dots in the design of related optoelectronic devices such as solar cells, light-emitting diodes, and photocatalysts and further offer the prospect of fewer required hopping events to transport carriers due to the larger spatial extent of the particles.

Cascade heterojunction (CHJ) organic solar cells have recently emerged as an alternative to conventional bulk heterojunctions and series-connected tandems due to their signifi cant promise for high internal quantum effi ciency (IQE) and broad spectral coverage. However, CHJ devices thus far have also exhibited poor fi ll factor (FF), resulting in minimal enhancements (or even decreases) in power conversion effi ciency (PCE) when compared with single heterojunction (SHJ) cells. In this study, the major variables controlling the CHJ maximum power point and FF are determined using a combinatorial approach. By matching the maximum power point voltage (V MPP) of the constituent parallel-connected heterojunctions (subjunctions) and minimizing the injection barriers intrinsic to CHJs, high FF and PCE can be achieved. Optimized CHJ devices are demonstrated with >99% IQE in the interlayer and a 46% increase in PCE compared to a SHJ reference (4.1% versus 2.8%). Devices with a transparent exciton dissociation layer (EDL)/interlayer/acceptor structure are employed, such that each CHJ has absorption effi ciency identical to its interlayer/acceptor SHJ counterpart. Using these results, a clear map of performance as a function of material parameters is developed, providing straightforward, universal design rules to guide future engineering of molecules and layer architectures for CHJ organic photovoltaic devices.

We report on the experimental observation of differential wavevector distribution of surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) and fluorescence from dye molecules confined to a gap between plasmonic silver nanowire and a thin, gold mirror. The fluorescence was mainly confined to higher values of in-plane wavevectors, whereas SERS signal was uniformly distributed along all the wavevectors. The optical energy-momentum spectra from the distal end of the nanowire revealed strong polarization dependence of this differentiation. All these observations were corroborated by full-wave three-dimensional numerical simulations, which further revealed an interesting connection between out-coupled wavevectors and parameters such as hybridized modes in the gap-plasmon cavity, and orientation and location of molecular dipoles in the geometry. Our results reveal a new prospect of discriminating electronic and vibrational transitions in resonant dye molecules using a subwavelength gap plasmonic cavity in the continuous-wave excitation limit, and can be further harnessed to engineer molecular radiative relaxation processes in momentum space.