Quantitative Analysis of Plasmonic Metal Oxide Nanocrystal Ensembles Reveals the Influence of Dopant Selection on Intrinsic Optoelectronic Properties

LSPR arising from free charge carriers in doped metal oxide (MO) nanocrystals (NCs) has been explored abundantly already but there is still much to learn about the effect of dopant identity on the electronic structure of the host and, surface depletion layers. Here, using In2O3 as the host lattice, we discuss the contribution of a dopant to the electronic structure and rationalize an empirical understanding of how a particular dopant can impact surface depletion, carrier concentration, and carrier damping in doped MO NCs. To do this, we leverage a slow injection synthesis to incorporate four different dopants (Sn, Zr, Ti, and Ce) in In2O3 NCs of different radius. By fitting their plasmonic response, we extracted intrinsic electronic properties of the NCs such as surface depletion layer thickness, carrier concentration, and carrier damping, and rationalized the influence of dopant selection on each parameter.