Materials for hot carrier plasmonics

While the field of plasmonics has grown significantly in recent years, the relatively high losses and limited material choices have remained a challenge for the development of many device concepts. The decay of plasmons into hot carrier excitations is one of the main loss mechanisms; however, this process offers an opportunity for the direct utilization of loss if excited carriers can be collected prior to thermalization. From a materials point-of-view, noble metals (especially gold and silver) are almost exclusively employed in these hot carrier plasmonic devices; nevertheless, many other materials may offer advantages for collecting these hot carriers. In this manuscript, we present results for 16 materials ranging from pure metals and alloys to nanowires and graphene and show their potential applicability for hot carrier excitation and extraction. 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