Solar thermoplasmonic nanofurnace for high-temperature heterogeneous catalysis

Naldoni, A.; Kudyshev, Z. A.; Mascaretti, L.; Sarmah, S. P.; Rej, S.; Froning, J. P.; Tomanec, O.; Yoo, J. E.; Wang, D.; Kment, S.; Montini, T.; Fornasiero, P.; Shalaev, V. M.; Schmuki, P.; Boltasseva, A.; Zboril, R.

doi:10.1021/acs.nanolett.0c00594

Most of existing solar thermal technologies require highly concentrated solar power to operate in the temperature range 300-600 °C. Here, thin films of refractory plasmonic TiN cylindrical nanocavities manufactured via flexible and scalable process are presented. The fabricated TiN films show polarization-insensitive 95% broadband absorption in the visible and near-infrared spectral ranges and act as plasmonic "nanofurnaces" capable of reaching temperatures above 600 °C under moderately concentrated solar irradiation (&tild;20 Suns). The demonstrated structures can be used to control nanometer-scale chemistry with zeptoliter (10-21 L) volumetric precision, catalyzing C - C bond formation and melting inorganic deposits. Also shown is the possibility to perform solar thermal CO oxidation at rates of 16 mol h-1 m-2 and with a solar-to-heat thermoplasmonic efficiency of 63%. Access to scalable, cost-effective refractory plasmonic nanofurnaces opens the way to the development of modular solar thermal devices for sustainable catalytic processes.

Solar thermoplasmonic nanofurnace for high-temperature heterogeneous catalysis / Naldoni, A.; Kudyshev, Z. A.; Mascaretti, L.; Sarmah, S. P.; Rej, S.; Froning, J. P.; Tomanec, O.; Yoo, J. E.; Wang, D.; Kment, S.; Montini, T.; Fornasiero, P.; Shalaev, V. M.; Schmuki, P.; Boltasseva, A.; Zboril, R.. - In: NANO LETTERS. - ISSN 1530-6984. - ELETTRONICO. - 20:5(2020), pp. 3663-3672. [10.1021/acs.nanolett.0c00594]