Efficient Hot Electron Extraction in Ag-Cu/TiO2 for High Performance Lateral Photovoltaic Effect

Plasmon-enhanced lateral photovoltaic effect (LPE) in metal-semiconductor Schottky junctions has been proposed as a fascinating alternative for position sensitive detectors (PSDs). The efficiency of plasmon-induced hot electron injection into semiconductors which affects by nanoparticle composition is an important parameter for surface plasmon based LPE. In this letter, we modified the d-band density of states (DOS) of Cu nanoparticles (NPs) by depositing Ag-Cu composite nanoparticles to improve the hot electron injection efficiency, and observed an enhanced LPE in TiO2/Ag-Cu NPs/Si structure. It exhibits better lateral photovoltage sensitivity than samples with Cu NPs and Ag NPs in the visible region, especially under 445 nm laser irradiation. These findings offer an effective avenue for facilitating the photoelectric conversion in LPE, while opening the door to the possibilities in high sensitivity LPE-based optoelectronic device applications.

Automated summary

The study focuses on enhancing the lateral photovoltaic effect by adjusting the d-band density of states of nanoparticles, leading to improved hot electron injection efficiency in surface plasmon-based LPE. The modification resulted in enhanced LPE in TiO2/Ag-Cu NPs/Si structure, showing superior lateral photovoltage sensitivity compared to samples with Cu NPs and Ag NPs, particularly under 445 nm laser irradiation. These findings provide a promising approach for boosting photoelectric conversion in LPE and potentially expanding the applications of high sensitivity LPE-based optoelectronic devices.