Ding Shenyi, Zhang Jixiang, Liu Cui, Li Nian, Zhang Shudong, Wang Zhenyang, Xi Min
School of Mechatronics & Vehicle Engineering, Chongqing Jiaotong University, Chongqing 400074, P. R. China.
Institute of Solid State Physics and Key Laboratory of Photovoltaic and Energy Conservation Materials, Hefei Institutes of Physical Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hefei, Anhui 230031, P. R. China.
ACS Omega. 2022 Jun 7;7(24):20750-20760. doi: 10.1021/acsomega.2c01146. eCollection 2022 Jun 21.
Gold nanospheres (Au NSs) and gold nanorods (Au NRs) are traditional noble metal plasmonic nanomaterials. Particularly, Au NRs with tunable longitudinal plasmon resonance from the visible to the near-infrared (NIR) range were suitable for highly efficient photothermal applications due to the extended light-receiving range. In this work, we synthesized Au NRs and Au NSs of similar volumes and subsequently developed them into Au NR/poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) and Au NS/PVDF nanofilms, both of which exhibited excellent solar photothermal performance evaluated by solar photothermal experiments. We found that the Au NR/PVDF nanofilm showed a higher solar photothermal performance than the Au NS/PVDF nanofilm. Through detailed analysis, such as morphological characterization, optical measurement, and finite element method (FEM) modeling, we found that the plasmonic coupling effects inside the aggregated Au NR nanoclusters contributed to the spectral blue shifts and intensified the photothermal performance. As compared to Au NS/PVDF nanofilms, the Au NR/PVDF nanofilm exhibited a higher efficient light-to-heat conversion rate because of the extended light-receiving range and high absorbance, as a result of the strong plasmonic interactions inside nanoclusters, which was further validated by monochromatic laser photothermal experiments and FEM simulations. Our work proved that the Au NRs have huge potential for plasmonic solar photothermal applications and are envisioned for novel plasmonic applications.
金纳米球（Au NSs）和金纳米棒（Au NRs）是传统的贵金属等离子体纳米材料。特别是，纵向等离子体共振可在可见光到近红外（NIR）范围内调谐的Au NRs，由于其光接收范围的扩展，适用于高效光热应用。在这项工作中，我们合成了体积相似的Au NRs和Au NSs，随后将它们制成Au NR/聚偏氟乙烯（PVDF）和Au NS/PVDF纳米薄膜，通过太阳能光热实验评估，这两种薄膜均表现出优异的太阳能光热性能。我们发现Au NR/PVDF纳米薄膜比Au NS/PVDF纳米薄膜具有更高的太阳能光热性能。通过详细分析，如形态表征、光学测量和有限元方法（FEM）建模，我们发现聚集的Au NR纳米团簇内部的等离子体耦合效应导致光谱蓝移并增强了光热性能。与Au NS/PVDF纳米薄膜相比，由于纳米团簇内部强烈的等离子体相互作用，Au NR/PVDF纳米薄膜由于光接收范围的扩展和高吸收率而表现出更高的光热转换效率，单色激光光热实验和FEM模拟进一步验证了这一点。我们的工作证明，Au NRs在等离子体太阳能光热应用方面具有巨大潜力，并有望用于新型等离子体应用。
