Controlling Plasmonic Catalysis via Strong Coupling with Electromagnetic Resonators

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that strong coupling between electromagnetic resonators and plasmonic nanoparticles can be used to control and enhance plasmonic catalysis by tuning spectral overlap and dynamically responding to catalyst changes.

Contribution

It introduces a method to control plasmonic catalysis through strong coupling with resonators, enabling dynamic and non-intrusive modulation of catalytic activity.

Findings

Strong coupling allows spectral overlap control between plasmonic excitation and charge injection.

Resonator control enhances plasmonic catalysis efficiency.

The approach enables dynamic response to catalyst deterioration.

Abstract

Plasmonic excitations decay within femtoseconds, leaving non-thermal (often referred to as "hot") charge carriers behind that can be injected into molecular structures to trigger chemical reactions that are otherwise out of reach -- a process known as plasmonic catalysis. In this Letter, we demonstrate that strong coupling between resonator structures and plasmonic nanoparticles can be used to control the spectral overlap between the plasmonic excitation energy and the charge injection energy into nearby molecules. Our atomistic description couples real-time density-functional theory self-consistently to Maxwell's equations via the radiation-reaction potential. Control over the resonator provides then an additional knob for non-intrusively enhancing plasmonic catalysis and dynamically reacting to deterioration of the catalyst -- a new facet of modern catalysis.