Open AccessTuning infrared plasmon resonances in doped metal-oxide nanocrystals through cation-exchange reactions
Author(s) -
Zeke Liu,
Yaxu Zhong,
Ibrahim Shafei,
Ryan Borman,
Soojin Jeong,
Jun Chen,
Yaroslav Losovyj,
Xinfeng Gao,
Na Li,
Yaping Du,
Erik Sarnello,
Tao Li,
Dong Su,
Wanli Ma,
Xingchen Ye
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
nature communications
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.559
H-Index - 365
ISSN - 2041-1723
DOI - 10.1038/s41467-019-09165-2
Subject(s) - dopant , nanocrystal , materials science , oxide , plasmon , doping , nanotechnology , surface plasmon resonance , metal , nanoparticle , optoelectronics , metallurgy
Metal-oxide nanocrystals doped with aliovalent atoms can exhibit tunable infrared localized surface plasmon resonances (LSPRs). Yet, the range of dopant types and concentrations remains limited for many metal-oxide hosts, largely because of the difficulty in establishing reaction kinetics that favors dopant incorporation by using the co-thermolysis method. Here we develop cation-exchange reactions to introduce p-type dopants (Cu + , Ag + , etc.) into n-type metal-oxide nanocrystals, producing programmable LSPR redshifts due to dopant compensation. We further demonstrate that enhanced n-type doping can be realized via sequential cation-exchange reactions mediated by the Cu + ions. Cation-exchange transformations add a new dimension to the design of plasmonic nanocrystals, allowing preformed nanocrystals to be used as templates to create compositionally diverse nanocrystals with well-defined LSPR characteristics. The ability to tailor the doping profile postsynthetically opens the door to a multitude of opportunities to deepen our understanding of the relationship between local structure and LSPR properties.