(327i) Mie Resonance-Enhanced Photocatalysis Using Dielectric Cuprous Oxide Nanostructures

Nanomaterials have changed the field of photocatalysis significantly. Especially, plasmonic metals nanostructures (PMNs) such as gold (Au), silver (Ag), copper (Cu), etc. have contributed significantly by taking photochemistry to the next stage through light manipulation at the nanometer level. PMNs exhibit a special property called plasmonic Mie resonance, which results in strong local electric-field enhancement. However, there are fundamental limitations in expanding PMNs to commercial applications for multiple reasons such as heating losses, challenges in scaling up like conventional metal-oxide-semiconductor fabrication, and capital intensive. In this talk, we show that high refractive indexed dielectric material shows resilience, reduced dissipative losses, and high resonant enhancement of electric and magnetic fields. This property can be tailored by controlling the shape and size of the material. The strong electric and magnetic responses help in building the excited charge carriers for photocatalysis. We also show the application of dielectric resonance enhancement in metal-oxide for photocatalysis. We used cuprous oxide (Cu₂O) as the photocatalyst. The Mie resonance-enhanced photocatalysis demonstrated in our study can be utilized in developing efficient photocatalysts for making valuable chemicals and pharmaceuticals. The structure-property-performance relationships developed in our study can also be used for the conversion and storage of solar energy in the form of chemical fuels.