Enhanced photocurrent from generated photothermal heat in indium nanoparticles embedded TiO2 film

We have demonstrated the synthesis of indium (In) nanoparticle (NP) arrays on TiO2 thin film (TF) using glancing angle deposition technique. The deposited In NPs are of the order of 4-10 nm in size. Optical absorption measurements depict 2.5 times enhanced absorption for In-NPs/TiO2-TF compared to TiO2 TF. The plasmonic device shows a turn on voltage at similar to 3.0 and similar to 1.0V under dark and 30 min illumination, respectively. The device current increases from 1.6 to 6.5 mA/cm(2) (+5V) with enhanced temperature for 1-30 min continuous light exposures. The plasmonic device shows eight-fold enlarged photoresponsivity (+2.3V) compared to the TiO2 TF based device. (C) 2013 AIP Publishing LLC.