Figure 20.

Field-emission scanning electron microscopy images of nanowire (NW) devices consisting of (a) plain silica NW (without the Au NPs) and (b) Au NPs-silica NW; (c) Dark I–V characteristics of single NW devices, with and without Au NP peapods, measured in vacuum, and the corresponding linear fit to the dataset; (d) Dark and photocurrent measured under vacuum in single NW devices, with and without Au NP peapods, as a function of time. The color bars indicate the duration of the 532 nm illumination. The measurement has been performed with a 1 V applied bias at room temperature. The bare silica NW showed no photoresponse, whereas the Au NPs-silica NW showed strong photoresponse. Reproduced with permission from [146]. Copyright Nature Publishing Group, 2013.