Properties, fabrication and applications of plasmonic semiconductor nanocrystals

Abstract

In semiconductor nanocrystals (NCs), a new regime has been opened in the plasmonic field since the discovery of localized surface plasmon resonances (LSPRs). LSPRs that lead to near-field enhancement, scattering, and resonant absorption around the NC can be tuned in the range from the visible to the near-infrared (NIR) region across a wide optical spectrum by synthetically varying the doping level, and post synthetically via electrochemical control, photochemical control, and chemical oxidation and reduction. In this review, we will focus on the three widely explored and interrelated examples and their manipulation methods of LSPR of (1) hydrogen molybdenum bronze (H_xMoO_3−y) NCs, (2) hydrogen tungsten bronze (H_xWO_3−y) NCs, and (3) oxygen vacancy doped molybdenum tungsten oxide (Mo_xW_1−xO_3−y) NCs. Finally, a brief outlook on the applications of these plasmonic NCs is presented.