Near-Perfect Absorption of Light by Plasmene Sheets

TL;DR

This paper presents a novel plasmene-based layered nanostructure that achieves near-perfect visible light absorption, surpassing previous limitations through self-assembly and structural control, with potential applications in sensing and photocatalysis.

Contribution

Introduces a new plasmene-based fabrication method for NPAs that significantly improves light absorption and allows for tunable absorption profiles.

Findings

Achieves up to 98% light absorption with plasmene NPAs.

Structural ordering enhances absorption efficiency.

Anisotropic building blocks enable absorption profile control.

Abstract

Near-perfect absorbers (NPAs) efficiently absorb visible light with a layered nanostructure that is thinner than the diffusion lengths of photogenerated charge carriers. We overcame existing limitations in fabricating their nanoparticulate surface by depositing \textit{plasmene}, a tightly-packed two-dimensional lattice of metal nanoparticles formed through self-assembly. The plasmene NPAs absorb up to 98\% of incident visible light, with modelling showing the improvement on existing NPAs arises from the structural ordering of the plasmene. We also demonstrate control of NPAs' absorption profile through the use of anisotropic building blocks in plasmene. These property enhancements may broaden the application of NPAs to structural colour, sensing and photocatalysis.