CO2 photocatalytic reduction is a carbon–neutral renewable energy technology. However, this technology is restricted by the low utilization of photocatalytic electrons. Therefore, to improve the separation efficiency of photogenerated carriers and enhance the performance of CO2 photocatalytic reduction. In this paper, g-C3N4/Pd composite with Schottky junction was synthesized by using g-C3N4, a two-dimensional material with unique interfacial effect, as the substrate material in combination with the co-catalyst Pd. The composite of Pd and g-C3N4 was tested to have a strong localized surface plasmon resonance effect (LSPR), which decreased the reaction barriers and improved the electron utilization. The combination of reduced graphene oxide (rGO) created a π–π conjugation effect at the g-C3N4 interface, which shortened the electron migration path and further improved the thermal electron transfer and utilization efficiency. The results show that the g-C3N4/ rGO/Pd (CRP) exhibits the best performance for photocatalytic reduction of CO2, with the yields of 13.57 μmol g− 1 and 2.73 μmol g− 1 for CO and CH4, respectively. Using the in situ infrared test to elucidate the intermediates and the mechanism of g-C3N4/rGO/Pd (CRP) photocatalytic CO2 reduction. This paper provides a new insight into the interface design of photocatalytic materials and the application of co-catalysts.

In this study, a high-resolution integrated real-time visualization device using surface plasmon resonance was designed and considered to overcome the measurement limitations of existing optical systems. For precise measurements, resonance angle and reflectivity were calculated using theoretical equations, and the designed surface plasmon resonance visualization system was verified by comparison with experimental values using a He-Ne laser. Surface information of the droplet was acquired using polarized, single-wavelength converted white light, and quantified through image processing. As a result of the experiment, it was confirmed that when light with a wavelength of 632.8 nm is incident on the Kretchmann structure prism-metal thin film-dielectric (air/water), it is not totally reflected at an angle above the critical angle and the reflectivity is rapidly reduced due to the surface plasmon resonance phenomenon. As a result of quantifying the image, it was confirmed that the droplet reflectivity was similar to the theoretical reflectivity at each resonance angle.

We improve the energy conversion efficiency (ECE) of a dye sensitized solar cell (DSSC) by preparing a working electrode (WE) with localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) by inducing Au thin films with thickness of 0.0 to 5.0 nm, deposited via sputtering. Field emission scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy were used to characterize the microstructure of the blocking layer (BL) of the Au thin films. Micro-Raman measurement was employed to confirm the LSPR effect, and a solar simulator and potentiostat were used to evaluate the photovoltaic properties, including the impedance and the I-V of the DSSC of the Au thin films. The results of the microstructural analysis confirmed that nano-sized Au agglomerates were present at certain thicknesses. The photovoltaic results show that the ECE reached a value of 5.34% with a 1-nm thick-Au thin film compared to the value of 5.15 % without the Au thin film. This improvement was a result of the increase in the LSPR of the TiO2 layer that resulted from the Au thin film coating. Our results imply that the ECE of a DSSC may be improved by coating with a proper thickness of Au thin film on the BL.

In this study, we investigated localized surface plasmon resonance and the related coupling phenomena with respect to various geometric parameters of Ag nanoparticles, including the size and inter-particle distance. The plasmon resonances of Ag nanoparticles were studied using three-dimensional finite difference time domain(FDTD) calculations. From the FDTD calculations, we discovered the existence of a symmetric and an anti-symmetric plasmon coupling modes in the coupled Ag nanoparticles. The dependence of the resonance wavelength with respect to the inter-particle distance was also investigated, revealing that the anti-symmetric mode is more closely correlated with the inter-particle distance of the Ag nanoparticles than the symmetric mode. We also found that higher order resonance modes are appeared in the extinction spectrum for closely spaced Ag nanoparticles. Plasmon resonance calculations for the Ag particles coated with a SiO2 layer showed enhanced plasmon coupling due to the strengthened plasmon resonance, suggesting that the inter-particle distance of the Ag nanoparticles can be estimated by measuring the transmission and absorption spectra with the plasmon resonance of symmetric and anti-symmetric localized surface plasmons.

In this study, we analyzed the effect of silicon oxynitride matrix on the optical properties of Au nanoparticles dispersed on composite film and explored the effectiveness of the silicon in fine tuning the refractive index of the composite film for applications in optical waveguide devices. The atomic fraction of nitrogen in SiOxNy films was controlled by varying the relative flow ratio of nitrogen gas in reactive sputtering and was evaluated optically using an effective medium theory with Bruggeman geometry consisting of a random mixture between SiO2 and Si3N4. The Au nanoparticles were embedded in the SiOxNy matrix by employing the alternating deposition technique and clearly showed an absorption peak due to the excitation of surface plasmon. With increasing nitrogen atomic fraction in the matrix, the surface plasmon resonance wavelength shifted to a longer wavelength (a red-shift) with an enhanced resonance absorption. These characteristics were interpreted using the Maxwell-Garnett effective medium theory. The formation of a guided mode in a slab waveguide consisting of 3 μm thick Au:SiOxNy nanocomposite film was confirmed at the telecommunication wavelength of 1550 nm by prism coupler method and compared with the case of using SiO2 matrix. The use of SiOxNy matrix provides an effective way of controlling the mode confinement while maintaining or even enhancing the surface plasmon resonance properties.

SPR biosensors which belong to a family of thin film refractometry-based sensors measure refractive index changes produced by biomolecular interactions occurring at the surface of the sensors. The main advantage of SPR biosensors is to detect molecular interactions directly without the use of labels. This feature makes them possible to observe biomolecular interactions in real-time or near real-time. The non-specific binding between ligand and target analyte may, however, produce a false refractive index change resulting in false sensor response. The applications of SPR biosensors have involved biomolecular interaction kinetics analysis, affinity measurement, screening and concentration assay, and so on.