# Electrical detection of plasmon-induced isomerization in molecule-nanoparticle network devices

## TL;DR

This study demonstrates that plasmon-induced isomerization in molecule-nanoparticle networks can be electrically detected, showing faster kinetics than optical methods, with potential mechanisms including electric fields and resonant energy transfer.

## Contribution

It provides the first electrical detection of plasmon-induced isomerization in nanoparticle networks, highlighting the efficiency of 3D structures and proposing likely underlying mechanisms.

## Key findings

- PII is more efficient in 3D-like networks than in monolayers.
- PII exhibits about 10 times faster kinetics than optical isomerization.
- Resonant energy transfer is the most probable mechanism for PII.

## Abstract

We use a network of molecularly linked gold nanoparticles (NPSAN: nanoparticles self-assembled network) to demonstrate the electrical detection (conductance variation) of a plasmon-induced isomerization (PII) of azobenzene derivatives (azobenzene bithiophene : AzBT). We show that PII is more efficient in a 3D-like (cluster-NPSAN) than in a purely two-dimensional NPSAN (i.e., a monolayer of AzBT functionalized Au NPs). By comparison with usual optical (UV-visible light) isomerization of AzBT, the PII shows a faster (a factor about 10) isomerization kinetics. Possible PII mechanisms are discussed: electric field-induced isomerization, two-phonon process, plasmon-induced resonant energy transfer (PIRET), the latter being the most likely.

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Source: https://tomesphere.com/paper/1812.05307