Nonequilibrium hot-electron-induced wavelength-tunable incandescent-type light sources

Abstract

The collective oscillation of electrons located in the conduction band of metal nanostructures being still energized, with the energy up to the bulk plasmon frequency, are called nonequilibrium hot electrons. It can lead to the state-filling effect in the energy band of the neighboring semiconductor. Here, we report on the incandescent-type light source composed of Au nanorods decorated with single Ga-doped ZnO microwire (AuNRs@ZnO:Ga MW). Benefiting from Au nanorods with controlled aspect ratio, wavelength-tunable incandescent-type lighting was achieved, with the dominating emission peaks tuning from visible to near-infrared spectral regions. The intrinsic mechanism was found that tunable nonequilibrium distribution of hot electrons in ZnO:Ga MW, injected from Au nanorods, can be responsible for the tuning emission features. Apart from the modification over the composition, bandgap engineering, doping level, etc., the realization of electrically driving the generation and injection of nonequilibrium hot electrons from single ZnO:Ga MW with Au nanostructure coating may provide a promising platform to construct electronics and optoelectronics devices, such as electric spasers and hot-carrier-induced tunneling diodes.