Surface plasmon polaritons suppress photoresponse of colloidal CdS nanorods in nanogap

Colloidal CdS nanorods similar to 4.9 nm in diameter and similar to 60 nm long were positioned in gold bow-tie electrodes with a gap of similar to 50 nm by an AC dielectrophoresis process to construct optoelectronic devices. The fabricated devices exhibited an excellent photoresponse to white and blue light, but no response to green light. However, the response of the devices to white light could be degraded by green light. This is considered to be related to surface plasmon polaritons suppressing the generation of photo-carriers in the CdS nanorods. The results indicate that surface plasmons do not always benefit nano-optoeletronic devices. (C) 2015 The Japan Society of Applied Physics