Localized surface plasmon induced enhancement of electron-hole generation with silver metal island at n-Al:ZnO/p-Cu₂O heterojunction

Localized surface plasmon induced generation of electron-hole pairs with inclusion of metal islands of noble metal like Ag can enhance the photocurrent. A heterostructure of n-Al:ZnO/p-Cu₂O with inclusion of Ag metalislands at the junction has been fabricated. I-V characteristic curve of these heterostructures shows a significant enhancement of photocurrent under the illumination (1.5 AMU). This enhancement of photocurrent is attributed to the supply of hot electrons generated in silver metal nanoislands. It has also been shown that inclusion of metal islands increases the absorption of solar spectrum in visible region at 500 nm. Enhancement of photocurrent may also be due to the direct resonance energy transfer from Localized Surface Plasmons of metal islands to Cu₂O