Plasmonic protection of the hot‐electron energy

It is shown, that hot electrons generated in a semiconductor can transfer their excess free energy into an embedded/adjacent plasmonic metallic structure (reservoir), before it is lost irreversibly to phonons in the semiconductor. Since the plasmon–phonon (and plasmon–photon) scattering in the metallic structure could be much slower than the electron–phonon scattering in the semiconductor, free energy of the hot electrons can be this way effectively protected from phonon emission for a significant amount of time. While the cubic point‐dipole crystal is proposed and studied here specifically as the plasmonic reservoir, other plasmonic structures including planar can be employed. It is also shown how the plasmon‐protected energy can by recycled in a novel, 3rd generation solar cell, be employing a planar plasmonic structure that is simultaneously also an electron collector of the cell. (© 2013 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)