Generating hot carriers in plasmonic nanoparticles: when quantization does and does not matter?

Abstract

Plasmon-assisted hot carrier processes in metal nanoparticles can be described either classically or using the full strength of quantum mechanics. We reconfirm that from the practical applications point of view, when it comes to description of the decay of plasmons in nanoparticles, classical description is sufficiently adequate for all but the smallest of the nanoparticles. At the same time, the electron temperature rise in nanoparticles is discrete (quantized) and neglecting this fact can lead to significant underestimating of hot carrier assisted effects, such as photo-catalysis.