Thickness-dependent surface plasmon resonance of ITO nanoparticles for ITO/In-Sn bilayer structure

Abstract

Tuning the localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) in doped semiconductor nanoparticles (NPs), which represents an important characteristic in LSPR sensor applications, still remains a challenge. Here, indium tin oxide/indium tin alloy (ITO/In-Sn) bilayer films were deposited by electron beam evaporation and the properties, such as the LSPR and surface morphology, were investigated by UV-VIS-NIR double beam spectrophotometer and atomic force microscopy (AFM), respectively. By simply engineering the thickness of ITO/In-Sn NPs without any microstructure fabrications, the LSPR wavelength of ITO NPs can be tuned by a large amount from 858 to 1758 nm. AFM images show that the strong LSPR of ITO NPs is closely related to the enhanced coupling between ITO and In-Sn NPs. Blue shifts of ITO LSPR from 1256 to 1104 nm are also observed in the as-annealed samples due to the higher free carrier concentration. Meanwhile, we also demonstrated that the ITO LSPR in ITO/In-Sn NPs structures has good sensitivity to the surrounding media and stability after 30 d exposure in air, enabling its application prospects in many biosensing devices.

Thermochromic Smart Windows Assisted by Photothermal Nanomaterials

“…Due to the wide energy gap, conventional semiconductor materials need to absorb UV light with higher energy to excite the electrons and release heat in the process of falling back to the ground state. However, with the study of more kinds of semiconductor materials, it has been found that localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) exists not only in noble metals, but also in semiconductor materials with appreciable free carrier density, such as tin-doped indium oxide (ITO) [ 66 , 67 ], copper sulfide (Cu x S) [ 68 , 69 ], titanium nitride (TiN) [ 70 , 71 ], etc. Compared with conventional noble metals, semiconductors can exhibit LSPR in both the ultraviolet-visible (UV-vis) and near–mid-infrared (IR) spectral regions, which significantly extends the light absorption range.…”

Plasmonic induced light trapping enhancement in silicon nanowires hybrid solar cell using indium tin oxide nanoparticles

“…In recent years, researchers have been increasingly interested in new plasmonic nanoparticles to improve the PCE of solar cells, which is indium tin oxide nanoparticles (ITO NPs). ITO NPs, known as crystalline nanomaterials with a wide bandgap, show low electrical resistance and light trapping [29][30][31]. They were used as a rear surface of a silicon solar cell [32][33][34].…”

Plasmonic nanomaterial structuring for SERS enhancement

“…33 The impacts of the LSPR in the ITO substrate include surface enhancement and shape-controlled extinction, in particular, with different widths of ITO, as reported by Rhodes et al, in 2008, who investigated the optical characteristics of ITO with increasing thickness from 30 to 300 nm 34 and by Wei et al, in 2017, who discovered that the LSPR wavelength of ITO was tunable within the range from 858 to 1758 nm through a simple engineering of ITO/In-Sn NP thickness. 35 Moreover, ITO is chemically stable and particularly easy to use in some deposition methods, such as in sputtering. Additionally, some approaches to modifying ITO, such as the fabrication of a grated ITO substrate, showed great tolerance to deviations in fabrication due to its large refractive index contrast.…”