Negative photoconductivity induced by surface plasmon polaritons in Ag nanowire macrobundles

We study experimentally and theoretically the transport properties of Ag nanowire macrobundles in the presence of light irradiation. We have observed significant negative photoconductivity induced by the interaction between electrons and the excited surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs). As temperature T increases from 77 K to 304 K, the dark resistivity rhod without light irradiation increases linearly with T, and the resistivity change Deltarho due to light irradiation decreases nonlinearly with increasing T. The current change |DeltaI| due to light irradiation, which is proportional to the laser intensity, also decreases nonlinearly with increasing T. We explain well the experimental results using our proposed model with a new scattering channel due to the interaction between electrons and SPPs. Both our experimental and theoretical results reveal the novel phenomena due to the combination of photonics and electronics properties of Ag nanowires and they will be useful for scientific research, and technical applications.