Interrelation of transport and optical properties in gold nanoclusters

Abstract

Temperature dependence of the electrical conductivity and photoluminescence (PL) in Au nanoclusters (NCs) is investigated. The correlation of the conductivity and PL in Au NCs at different temperatures is evident: (i) for T < 50 K, both the conductivity and PL intensity decrease with temperature, which suggests thermal structural fluctuations; (ii) for 50 K < T < 90 K, conductivity and PL are explained by variable range hopping; (iii) for 90 K < T < 170 K, simple thermal activated hopping dominates in conductivity, with a rate-equation model proposed to analyze the carrier transfer in PL. (C) 2010 American Institute of Physics. [doi: 10.1063/1.3491288]