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The Chemical Potential of Plasmonic Excitations
Author(s) -
Yu Sungju,
Jain Prashant K.
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
angewandte chemie
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1521-3757
pISSN - 0044-8249
DOI - 10.1002/ange.201914118
Subject(s) - photoexcitation , plasmon , reagent , chemical reaction , nanoparticle , chemistry , excitation , photochemistry , surface plasmon resonance , redox , materials science , optoelectronics , nanotechnology , inorganic chemistry , physics , organic chemistry , quantum mechanics
By the photoexcitation of localized surface plasmon resonances of metal nanoparticles, one can generate reaction equivalents for driving redox reactions. We show that, in such cases, there is a chemical potential contributed by the plasmonic excitation. This chemical potential is a function of the concentration of light, as we determine from the light‐intensity‐dependent activity in the plasmon‐excitation‐driven reduction of CO 2 on Au nanoparticles. Our finding allows the treatment of plasmonic excitation as a reagent in chemical reactions; the chemical potential of this reagent is tunable by the light intensity.