Abstract

With the growing global energy crisis, research into new energy materials that can potentially transfer heat into electricity has become a worldwide imperative. Pyroelectric materials are polar materials that are able to produce electrical charge in response to temperature change. These materials are of interest for infrared sensing, energy harvesting, and emerging applications in chemistry and biology. However, unlocking their potential requires the temperature changes to be both large and rapid. To achieve this goal, pyroelectric materials can be used in synergy with plasmonic nanomaterials, which provide highly localized and rapid heating upon illumination at the plasmonic resonances. Plasmonic-pyroelectric combinations are therefore being used for a variety of electrical, thermal, electrochemical, and biological studies and are inspiring new technological applications. In this review, the underlying mechanisms of the pyroelectric and plasmonic effects are introduced and the benefits of combining them are outlined. A range of applications is then overviewed. Critical challenges and future perspectives to further develop the underlying science of these systems and to create highly efficient plasmonic-pyroelectric materials and structures are discussed.
Original languageEnglish
Article number2312245
Number of pages23
JournalAdvanced Functional Materials
Volume34
Issue number21
Early online date15 Jan 2024
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 22 May 2024

Bibliographical note

Funders:
China Scholarship Council - 201908420009
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council - EP/T001046/1
National Natural Science Foundation of China - 51902094
Royal Society - RGF\EA\180228
UKRI Frontier Research Guarantee - EP/X023265/1

Funding

Q.W. thanks for the support from National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51902094) and the Postdoctoral Scholarship from the China Scholarship Council (Grant No. 201908420009). V.K.V. acknowledges support from the Royal Society grants RGF∖EA∖180228 and URF\R\191016, as well as the EPSRC grant EP/T001046/1 and the Leverhulme Trust grant RP-G202-2-344. C. B. would like to acknowledge the support of the UKRI Frontier Research Guarantee on “Processing of Smart Porous Electro-Ceramic Transducers – ProSPECT”, project No. EP/X023265/1.

FundersFunder number
UK Research and InnovationEP/X023265/1
UK Research and Innovation
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research CouncilEP/T001046/1
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council
Leverhulme TrustRP‐G202‐2‐344
Leverhulme Trust
Royal SocietyURF\R\191016, RGF∖EA∖180228
Royal Society
National Natural Science Foundation of China51902094
National Natural Science Foundation of China
China Scholarship Council201908420009
China Scholarship Council

Keywords

  • energy harvesting
  • hybrid system
  • plasmonic effect
  • pyroelectric effect
  • sensing

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials
  • Condensed Matter Physics
  • General Chemistry
  • General Materials Science
  • Electrochemistry
  • Biomaterials

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