Surface plasmon driven near- and midinfrared photoconductivity in ligand-free ITO nanocrystal films

Semiconductor nanocrystals (NCs) offer exciting opportunities to deploy infrared optoelectronic technology in a variety of applications that are off-limits to conventional single-crystalline materials. However, the performance and stability of state-of-the-art NC-based devices strongly depend on the details of the NC surface and its passivating ligands. Here, the authors use indium tin oxide NC films stripped of organic ligands and conformally coated with Al2O3 to show that absorption enabled by infrared localized surface plasmon resonances permit infrared photoconduction. For Au electrodes, these metallic NC films exhibit stable photoconductive performance over months in ambient and under electrical stress. Published under license by AVS.