Nanoscale metallic features are known to posses a strongly absorbing electronic transition, called the surface plasmon.  In most cases, these features are not emissive, and the absorbed light is efficiently thermalized.  Using modest laser powers, temperatures of hundreds of degrees are achievable.  However, this heat dissipates on the picosecond timescale, and it is not clear if these temperatures are chemically relevant � that is, if they can be used to run chemical reactions.  Here we use plasmonic heating to drive a few simple chemical reactions with well-known activation barriers.  In the solid state, we look at the decomposition of polycarbonate and in solution, we examine the cleavage of a t-butyl ester.   Thus, we  address how �available� this heat is, chemically speaking.

Understanding the “chemical availability” of plasmonic heat in gold nanostructures

244th National Meeting (2012)

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