Ultrafast charge carrier dynamics and photoelectrochemical properties of ZnO nanowires decorated with Au nanoparticles

Jason K. Cooper; Yichuan Ling; Yat Li; Jin Z. Zhang

doi:10.1117/12.893901

19 September 2011 Ultrafast charge carrier dynamics and photoelectrochemical properties of ZnO nanowires decorated with Au nanoparticles

Jason K. Cooper, Yichuan Ling, Yat Li, Jin Z. Zhang

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Proceedings Volume 8109, Solar Hydrogen and Nanotechnology VI; 81090M (2011) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.893901
Event: SPIE Solar Energy + Technology, 2011, San Diego, California, United States

Abstract

This study was designed to examine the possible photosensitization effect of zinc oxide (ZnO) nanowires (NWs) by Au nanoparticles (AuNPs) by directly monitoring the charge carrier lifetime in AuNP-decorated ZnO NWs. ZnO-Au nanocomposite structures showed reduced photocurrent compared to pristine ZnO NWs due to the combined effect of ZnO etching during the AuNPs growth and competitive absorption/scattering effects from AuNPs of incident UV photons. Ultrafast transient pump-probe spectroscopy was utilized to characterize the charge carrier dynamics. The bleach recovery of ZnO indicates electron-hole recombination on the 150 ps time scale attributed to shallow donor recombination. The AuNP-decorated ZnO NWs exhibit a fast decay of 3 ps in addition to the decays observed for ZnO NWs. This fast decay is similar to the hot electron relaxation lifetime observed for AuNPs in solution. Overall, the dynamics features for AuNP-decorated ZnO NWs appear as a simple sum of those from AuNPs and ZnO NWs alone. There is no evidence of photosensitization of the ZnO NWs by AuNPs investigated in this study.

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Jason K. Cooper, Yichuan Ling, Yat Li, and Jin Z. Zhang "Ultrafast charge carrier dynamics and photoelectrochemical properties of ZnO nanowires decorated with Au nanoparticles", Proc. SPIE 8109, Solar Hydrogen and Nanotechnology VI, 81090M (19 September 2011); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.893901

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KEYWORDS

Zinc oxide

Picosecond phenomena

Absorption

Gold

Nanoparticles

Nanowires

Scattering

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