Nanoplasmon-enabled macroscopic thermal management

In numerous applications of energy harvesting via transformation of light into heat the focus recently shifted towards highly absorptive nanoplasmonic materials. It is currently established that noble metals-based absorptive plasmonic platforms deliver significant light-capturing capability and can be viewed as super-absorbers of optical radiation. Naturally, approaches to the direct experimental probing of macroscopic temperature increase resulting from these absorbers are welcomed. Here we derive a general quantitative method of characterizing heat-generating properties of optically absorptive layers via macroscopic thermal imaging. We further monitor macroscopic areas that are homogeneously heated by several degrees with nanostructures that occupy a mere 8% of the surface, leaving it essentially transparent and evidencing significant heat generation capability of nanoplasmon-enabled light capture. This has a direct bearing to a large number of applications where thermal management is crucial.