Abstract
Silica nanoparticles, optically transparent in the visible spectral region, represent a class of dielectric antenna to tune the propagation and local field distribution of the visible light through surface scattering while the energy loss is minimized. The light scattering on the surface of silica nanoparticles include resonant scattering and random scattering that strongly depend on their geometry: spherical silica nanoparticles with the highest geometrical symmetry favors the light scattering resonances on the nanoparticle surfaces to promote resonant scattering while non-spherical silica nanoparticles mainly support random scattering. Both resonant scattering and random scattering of light on the silica nanoparticles are capable of enhancing the light absorption in quantum-sized metal nanocrystals attached to the surfaces of the silica nanoparticles. The contributions of resonant scattering and random scattering to the enhancement of light absorption have been compared and discussed. The understanding highlights the importance of the geometry of the silica nanoparticle antenna on the design and synthesis of composite materials for efficient light harvesting.
Highlights
A dielectric antenna consisting of a block of ceramic material of varying shapes interacts with electromagnetic waves while loses much less energy than the metal counterparts, resulting in an efficient modulation of the incident waves (Ashkin and Dziedzic, 1981; Ausman and Schatz, 2008; Matheu et al, 2008; Anderson, 2010; Grandidier et al, 2013; Yin et al, 2013; Kuznetsov et al, 2016; Huang et al, 2018)
Silica nanoparticles with large enough sizes can always produce random scattering in the visible spectral region regardless of their morphology, but generating resonant scattering strongly depends on their morphology
Silica nanoparticles with lateral dimensions of hundreds of nanometers and larger represent a class of dielectric antenna that does not absorb visible light, exhibiting strong light scattering in the visible spectral region with a minimum energy loss
Summary
A dielectric antenna consisting of a block of ceramic material of varying shapes interacts with electromagnetic waves while loses much less energy than the metal counterparts, resulting in an efficient modulation of the incident waves (Ashkin and Dziedzic, 1981; Ausman and Schatz, 2008; Matheu et al, 2008; Anderson, 2010; Grandidier et al, 2013; Yin et al, 2013; Kuznetsov et al, 2016; Huang et al, 2018). A dielectric resonator antenna with an appropriate geometry can allow the incident electromagnetic wave to bounce back and forth against the antenna surface, supporting scattering resonances to form new standing waves near the antenna surface, behaving as resonant scattering. The new surface standing waves can possibly radiate and propagate into space if the antenna surface is leaky. An incident electromagnetic wave can (elastically) scatter away from the antenna surface into space regardless of the geometry of the antenna, behaving as random scattering. A dielectric antenna supporting different scattering modes leads to a difference in influencing the absorption spectrum of a material that can absorb the incident electromagnetic energy when it is placed near the antenna. The random scattering usually does not alter the absorption spectrum profile of the energy-absorbing material while the
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