hot electrons tagged posts

The Scanning Tunnelling Microscope used to inject electrons into a silicon surface at the University of Birmingham. Credit: Michelle Tennison

The findings present a promising step forward towards being able to manipulate and control the behavior of high energy, or ‘hot’, electrons. A Scanning Tunnelling Microscope was used to inject electrons into a silicon surface, decorated with toluene molecules. As the injected charge propagated from the tip, it induced the molecules to react and ‘lift off’ from the surface. By measuring the precise atomic positions from which molecules departed on injection, the team were able to identify that electrons were governed by quantum mechanics close to the tip, and then by more classical behavior further away.

The team found the molecular lift-off was “su...

Rice University researchers have demonstrated an efficient new way to capture the energy from sunlight and convert it into clean, renewable energy by splitting water molecules. Credit: I. Thomann/Rice University

Process uses Light-harvesting Gold Nanoparticles, captures energy from ‘hot electrons’ (highly excited electrons). “Hot electrons have the potential to drive very useful chemical reactions, but they decay very rapidly, and people have struggled to harness their energy,” said lead researcher Assistant/Prof Isabell Thomann “For example, most of the energy losses in today’s best photovoltaic solar panels are the result of hot electrons that cool within a few trillionths of a second and release their energy as wasted heat.”

Capturing these high-energy electrons before they cool could a...