Impact of the Plasmonic Metal Oxide-Induced Photocatalytic Processes on the Interaction of Quantum Dots with Metallic Nanoparticles

We study plasmonic control of photocatalytic properties of metal oxides and the ways they influence interaction of quantum dots with metallic nanostructures. For this, gold nanostructures are coated with ultrathin layers of metal oxides (Al, Cu, Cr, or Ti oxide) and then covered with CdSe/ZnS quantum dots. The results show how the photocatalytic properties of such metal oxides are renormalized by plasmon near fields. In the cases of Al, Cr, and Ti oxides, the results mostly indicate the direct impact of plasmon fields via enhancement of optical excitations of the quantum dots. For the case of Cu oxide, however, the outcomes are found to be quite unique. In the absence of the plasmonic structures, such an oxide (CuO) presents highly active photocatalytic processes, leading to complete annihilation of the quantum dot emission. In the presence of the metallic nanostructures, the emission of such quantum dots is revived, offering an ultrafast decay process (similar to 112 ps). These results indicate that in the case of CuO, the plasmonic metal oxide-induced photocatalytic processes include not only direct impact of plasmon near fields on the optical excitations of quantum dots but also the enhancement of interband transitions in CuO nanoparticles. The effects of energy transfer from quantum dots to metallic nanostructures and its equalization with Purcell effects on such processes are discussed.