Plasmon Enhanced Photoconduction in Porphyrin-Gold Nanoparticle Assemblies

This thesis describes a series of experiments to both determine the origins of charge transport and enhanced photoconduction in metal nanoparticle arrays linked with zinc-porphyrin complexes, but to also determine the nucleation and growth mechanisms related to Ferroelectric Nanolithography (FNL) as a platform for hybrid devices. The development of test structures on glass substrates was undertaken to not only allow the study of the mechanisms controlling charge transport but the photoconduction of zinc-porphyrin linked gold nanoparticle (AuNP) arrays. In this study, the dominate charge transport mechanism was determined to be thermally assisted tunneling and the origins of enhanced photoconduction in these systems was attributed to three mechanisms: direct exciton formation in the molecules, hot electrons and a field effect (optical antenna) due to the excitation of surface plasmons. In the hope of developing a platform for hybrid devices, FNL was utilized to systematically vary the parameters that effect the deposition of metal nanoparticles through domain directed deposition on ferroelectric surfaces. The nucleation and growth mechanisms were determined through this work, where thevintegrated photon flux controlled the particle density and the interface between the particle and the ferroelectric surface determined the particles size. Finally, with the ability to control the deposition of AuNPs on a ferroelectric surface, hybrid devices of zinc-porphyrin linked AuNPs were realized with FNL.