Enhancement of photocurrent in NdCoO 3 via the plasmonic effect of silver microparticles

Abstract Rare earth cobalt perovskites of formula ReCoO 3 are an important group of materials that have applications in many emerging technologies such as energy storage devices, photocatalysis, gas sensors, and many more. An effective strategy for improving their physical and physicochemical properties has been the formation of metal-semiconductor heterojunctions. In this work, the effect of adding silver microparticles (Ag (µPs)) to NdCoO 3 on its photodetection properties was investigated. For the preparation of NdCoO 3 and Ag/NdCoO 3 , the microwave-assisted combustion method was used, which provides a fast, inexpensive and efficient route to synthesize them, without subsequent high temperature calcination. The photoconductive properties in UV light were evaluated through photocurrent ( I ph ) measurements, at room temperature, on thick films made with the as-prepared materials. The results revealed an increase of at least one order of magnitude in the variation of I ph ( ΔI ph ) in Ag/NdCoO 3 , compared with the single-phase material. This was attributed to the plasmonic effect produced by the homogeneous distribution of Ag (µPs) in the perovskite. Polarization curves confirmed the quantitative detection of this radiation. For near-infrared radiation (NIR), no significant response was obtained for NdCoO 3 ; however, reliable results were registered in Ag/NdCoO 3 . Based on the results, it was possible to conclude that the introduction of non-agglomerated Ag (µPs) into cobalt-based perovskites represents a suitable method for improving their photosensing properties.