Plasmon hybridisation of self-assembled 3d multiphase nano-titanium oxide towards broadband photon absorption

•We report a multiphase nano-titanium oxide plasmon hybridised with Au and Au/Pd alloy.•It has exhibited a broadened and enhanced absorption spectrum in visible and near infrared region.•This network of photo absorptivae material is three dimensional and self-assembled.

Nanomaterials with a broadband photon absorption capability are essential for better performing solar cells. Plasmonic nanostructures and Quantum Dots, often fabricated via complex time intensive methods, have a narrow absorption spectrum. In this paper, we report a plasmon hybridised self-assembled 3D nano network of multiphase titanium oxide, which was synthesised via a single step bottoms-up method, and is structurally both multi-layered and three dimensional in nature. The surface plasmonic effect was induced on the self-assembled nanomaterial through its hybridisation with Au and Au/palladium alloy that resulted in the achievement of an enhanced and broadened absorption spectrum extending over the entire visible as well as the near infrared region of the solar spectrum. Further studies were also carried out to examine the impact of various factors like the size, composition and degree of hybridisation of the self-assembled 3D multiphase nano titanium oxide network on its photon absorption capability.

Graphical abstractFig: Illustration of the Plasmon hybridisation of the self-assembled 3D multiphase nano- titanium oxide for augmented vis-NIR photon absorption.Download high-res image (223KB)Download full-size image