Modulating the Plasmon of Cd₂SnO₄ Nanospinels by Variation of Size and Morphology

Sarah D. Bennett, Raul E. Ortega, Jason E. Kuszynski, Catherine J. Fabiano, & Geoffrey F. Strouse

Florida State University, Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry

Cd₂SnO₄ is a transparent conducting oxide that has various applications in optoelectronics. As a nanospinel, it has also recently become a candidate for plasmonic applications, such as sensing and catalysis, as it exhibits a phenomenon called a localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) in the near-infrared (NIR) region. The LSPR in a plasmonic material is the oscillation of free carriers which occurs upon irradiating the material with a specific frequency of light. The energy of the LSPR depends on the number of free carriers in the material and their effective mass. In the case of Cd₂SnO₄, an n-type semiconductor, free electrons are generated by cation antisite occupation of Sn⁴⁺ and Cd²⁺. In this study, we will examine the tuning of the LSPR of colloidally synthesized Cd₂SnO₄ nanocrystals by varying size and morphology. The subsequent optical and structural properties will be investigated by pXRD, TEM, UV-Vis absorption, transient absorption spectroscopy, and magnetic circular dichroism.