Dynamic Conducting Polymer Plasmonics and Metasurfaces

Abstract

Metals have been the dominant plasmonic materials for decades, but they suffer from limited tunability. By contrast, conducting polymers offer exceptional tunability and were recently introduced as a new category of dynamic plasmonic materials. Their charge carrier density can be drastically modulated via their redox state, offering reversible and gradual transitions between optically metallic and dielectric behavior. Nanoantennas made from conducting polymers can therefore be reversibly turned off and on again. This enables phase gradient metasurfaces with tunable functionalities, holding promise for applications such as video holograms. In this Perspective, we discuss the emergence of dynamic conducting polymer plasmonics as a new research direction, including recent developments, remaining challenges, and opportunities for future research. We hope that this Perspective will encourage more researchers to join the journey and contribute toward a rapid development of this interdisciplinary field.

Switchable Broadband Terahertz Absorbers Based on Conducting Polymer‐Cellulose Aerogels

“…This peak can be attributed to charge localization effects and molecular vibrations. [ 40–43,60,67 ] As shown in Figure S24e,f (Supporting Information), this broad peak was also visible in the imaginary permittivity in the mid infrared with tails extending into the THz regime. The real part of the optical conductivity is associated with absorption [,60] and the tail of the peak in the THz can thus increase the effective absorption also in this spectral range, even for modest DC conductivities.…”

“…This feature has enabled applications such as electrochromic displays [31][32][33][34] and dynamic optical metasurfaces. [35][36][37][38][39] Due to charge localization effects and molecular vibrations, conducting polymers further do not follow a Drude-like optical conductivity (even in their most conducting state). Instead, the optical conductivity shows a broad peak centered in the mid infrared (IR).…”

Topologically Engineered Strain Redistribution in Elastomeric Substrates for Dually Tunable Anisotropic Plasmomechanical Responses

“…A plethora of materials have been reported that can mechanically tune the plasmonic resonances. − Among them, poly­(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS), a well-established optically transparent elastomer, is an excellent and soft substrate for reversible mechanochromic effects owing to its elastic, inert, and skin-conformable nature. , Applying external strain leads to a dynamic change in lattice constants and eventually to color shifts in the elastomeric substrate/matrices based on deposited/embedded plasmonic nanostructures such as nanoparticles (NPs), , nano cuboids, silica nanospheres, , and silicon nanowires . However, despite high stretchability and sensitivity, these optical strain sensors are usually designed on isotropically stretchable homogeneous elastomers, which makes them incapable of distinguishing between different stimuli directions.…”

Programmable directional color dynamics using plasmonics

“…As an alternative, plasmonic metasurfaces integrated with conductive polymers have been demonstrated [12][13][14][15] . Conductive polymers envelop plasmonic resonators and manipulate colors by electrochemically altering their effective refractive indices 16 .…”