Chemical reactions driven by plasmon-induced hot carriers

Abstract Noble-metal nanoparticles, when resonantly excited by visible light, generate hot electrons and holes. Such hot carriers induce a variety of chemical reactions, and some of which are of great importance in solar cell and photo-catalysis applications. However, molecular level understanding of underlying mechanisms is still largely missing. In this review, we overview the mechanism for hot carrier generation in nanoparticles, range of chemical reactions promoted by hot carriers, and the reaction mechanisms that have been proposed to explain the experimental observations.