The light-induced property of photosystem I (PSI) has been utilized to convert solar energy to electrical energy in photoelectrochemical cells. Here we provide new results on the relationship between surface plasmon generation (SPG) efficiency of nanoslits and the experimentally obtained photocurrent by immobilizing PSI on the gold nanoslit electrode surfaces regarding different nanoslit widths. The photocurrent increases with the increment of SPG efficiency. This finding can be attributed to the phenomenon of plasmon-exciton coupling effect on the PSI in the nanoslits. The enhancement of photocurrent generation is discussed on the basis of plasmonic light trapping and plasmon-induced resonance energy transfer.
Keywords: photocurrent; photoelectrochemistry; photosystem I; plasmon−exciton coupling; surface plasmon resonance.