Harvesting Sunlight with Titanium Nitride Nanostructures

Titanium nitride (TiN) nanostructure shows broad optical resonance that covers the majority of solar spectrum. By taking advantage of this resonance, i.e., surface plasmon resonance, we demonstrate that TiN nanostructures can efficiently harvest sunlight for internal photoemission and photothermal conversion. Some of the applications of TiN nanostructures include visible active photocatalysis and solar water evaporation. Since TiN has been used in industries, the use of TiN is practical, motiving the application oriented research for solar energy harvesting.