Fermi level equilibration in quantum dot-metal nanojunctions

The process of Fermi level equilibration in 5 nm ZnO quantum dot-metal nanojunctions has been monitored using changes to both the surface plasmon band of the metal island and the sharp exciton band of the ZnO nanocrystals following photoinduced electron accumulation. In the cases of silver, copper, and gold islands, excess electrons reside on both the quantum dot and the metal, whereas for Pt islands, the excess electrons reside exclusively on the Pt island. Electrons are transferred rapidly from Pt to the solvent ethanol, preventing accumulation on the quantum dots. The combination of exciton bleaching and surface plasmon shifts provides a simple way of probing the efficiency of small metal islands as redox catalysts on semiconductor particles.