Energy conversion from catalytic reaction to hot electron current with metal-semiconductor Schottky nanodiodes

Exothermic catalytic reactions induce electronic excitation at the metal surface, leading to the production of energetic hot electrons. We monitored the flow of hot electrons for over several hours using two types of metal-semiconductor Schottky diodes, Pt∕TiO2 or Pt∕GaN, during the platinum catalyzed oxidation of carbon monoxide. The thickness of Pt film used as the catalyst was 5nm, less than the electron mean free path, resulting in the ballistic transport of hot electrons through the metal. The electron flow was detected as a chemicurrent if the excess electron kinetic energy generated by the exothermic reaction was larger than the effective Schottky barrier formed at the metal-semiconductor interface. The measurement of continuous chemicurrent indicated that chemical energy of exothermic catalytic reaction was directly converted into hot electron flux in the catalytic nanodiode. The chemicurrent was well correlated with the turnover rate of CO oxidation separately measured by gas chromatography, suggesting the possibility of application as chemical sensors with high sensitivity.