Plasmonic structures for mediating chemical transformation
AssigneeSouthwest Research Institute
InventorMichael A. Miller
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The present invention relates to plasmonic structures of metal dielectrics and their use in corresponding processes that elicit surface plasmons which may then be employed to influence a chemical transformation. The frequency of a plasmon may be tuned to couple with a selected vibrational mode of a selected molecule to undergo a selected transition, such as transitions to a metastable state, bond rearrangement and/or chemical transformation via the breaking and reforming of bonds.
Claims18
A structure capable of causing a chemical transformation of a molecule on the surface of said structure comprising:
- a metal dielectric structure comprising dielectric wire and a metal coating wherein said metal dielectric structure comprises a 3-D metal-wire grid with periodic cubic symmetry capable of surface plasmon modes at frequencies between 1 and 430 THz to provide a surface- bound electric field, said electric field present when said metal dielectric structure is excited by an external source and/or the vibrational dipole created by a molecule or molecules adsorbed on said metal dielectric surface;
- wherein said surface-bound electric field is capable of coupling with a selected vibrational mode of a molecule on the surface of said metal dielectric structure, wherein said molecule undergoes a chemical transformation.
A process for causing a chemical transformation of a molecule on the surface of a structure comprising:
- supplying a metal dielectric structure comprising dielectric wire and a metal coating wherein said metal dielectric comprises a 3-D metal-wire grid with periodic cubic symmetry capable of surface plasmon modes at selected frequencies between 1 and 430 THz providing a surface-bound electric field, said electric field is present when said metal dielectric structure is excited by an external source and/or the vibrational dipole created by a molecule or molecules adsorbed on said metal dielectric structure surface;
- supplying a molecule or molecules to said metal dielectric structure for absorption onto said metal dielectric structure surface;
- wherein said surface-bound electric field is coupled with a selected vibrational mode of a molecule on the surface of said metal dielectric structure;
- wherein said adsorbed molecule undergoes a chemical transformation due to molecular vibration, and wherein the coupling between the surface-bound electric field of the plasmon mode and said molecular vibration are detected as:
- (i) absorption and/or change in transmission;
- and/or (ii) heat flow relative to a reference state.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.