Quantum hot carrier spectra in plasmonic catalysis
Abstract
Vibrational activation of admolecules on metal nanoparticles is an elementary step in plasmonic catalysis, yet the underlying dynamics driven by hot carriers is not fully understood in the quantum regime. Using an atomistic description of plasmonic hot carrier generation, we investigate vibrational excitation and dissociation of oxygen on silver nanoparticles as a function of diameter D. As D reduces from the classical to quantum-sized regime, quantized distribution of hot carriers emerges with increasing population in the high-energy regions. These highly energetic hot carriers deliver more efficient vibrational coupling and dissociation. The rate of vibrational excitation shows a linear 1/D scaling, which results from Landau damping. It turns nonlinear at elevated light intensities due to vibrational heating generated by multiple electron scattering. The finding of quantized distribution of hot carrier in plasmonic catalysis opens new avenues for selective control and nonthermal energy conversion.
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BibTeX
@misc{chen2026quantum,
title = {{Quantum hot carrier spectra in plasmonic catalysis}},
author = {Yu Chen and Hanwen Jin and Fei Gao and Johannes Lischner and Shiwu Gao},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2609.06949},
eprint = {2609.06949},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.06949},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Quantum hot carrier spectra in plasmonic catalysis
AU - Yu Chen
AU - Hanwen Jin
AU - Fei Gao
AU - Johannes Lischner
AU - Shiwu Gao
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/07
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2609.06949
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.06949
AB - Vibrational activation of admolecules on metal nanoparticles is an elementary step in plasmonic catalysis, yet the underlying dynamics driven by hot carriers is not fully understood in the quantum regime. Using an atomistic description of plasmonic hot carrier generation, we investigate vibrational excitation and dissociation of oxygen on silver nanoparticles as a function of diameter D. As D reduces from the classical to quantum-sized regime, quantized distribution of hot carriers emerges with increasing population in the high-energy regions. These highly energetic hot carriers deliver more efficient vibrational coupling and dissociation. The rate of vibrational excitation shows a linear 1/D scaling, which results from Landau damping. It turns nonlinear at elevated light intensities due to vibrational heating generated by multiple electron scattering. The finding of quantized distribution of hot carrier in plasmonic catalysis opens new avenues for selective control and nonthermal energy conversion.
ER -