Effects of Gold Nanorods on Photocurrents from Copper Phthalocyanine-Gold Nanorod Composite Films

Abstract

The fabrication of copper phthalocyanine (CuPc)–gold nanorod (AuNR) composite films on indium-tin-oxide electrodes was performed by electrostatic layer-by-layer adsorption technique. The photocurrents in CuPc–AuNR composite films were larger than those in CuPc films as a reference. The enhancements of the photocurrents in CuPc–AuNR composite films due to AuNR increased with increasing of wavelength up to near-infrared region. The enhancements are attributable to localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) due to AuNR. The enhancements at near-infrared wavelength due to the longitudinal LSPR were larger than those at visible wavelength due to the transverse LSPR.

Keywords:

• gold nanorod
• localized surface plasmon resonance
• longitudinal mode
• photocurrent
• phthalocyanine
• near-infrared

Acknowledgments

The authors thank the Center of Advanced Instrumental Analysis, Kyushu University for performing SEM and TEM measurements, respectively. The authors thank Dr. Daigou Mizoguchi (Dai Nippon Toryo Co. Ltd.) for providing the AuNRs. The present study was supported by Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research (No. 25600006, No. 24651145), Nanotechnology Network Project (Kyushu-area Nanotechnology Platform), and Joint Usage/Research Program on Zero-Emission Energy Research, Institute of Advanced Energy, Kyoto University (ZE26A-27), from MEXT of Japan.