Polaritonic Chemistry Enabled by Non-Local Metasurfaces

Vibrational strong coupling can modify chemical reaction pathways in unconventional ways. Thus far, Fabry-Perot cavities formed by pairs of facing mirrors have been mostly utilized to achieve vibrational strong coupling. In this study, we demonstrate the application of non-local metasurfaces that can sustain surface lattice resonances, enabling chemical reactions under vibrational strong coupling. We show that the solvolysis kinetics of para-nitrophenyl acetate can be accelerated by a factor of 2.7 by strong coupling to the carbonyl bond of the solvent and the solute with a surface lattice resonance. Our work introduces a new platform to investigate polaritonic chemical reactions. In contrast to Fabry-Perot cavities, metasurfaces define open optical cavities with single surfaces, which removes alignment hurdles, facilitating polaritonic chemistry across large areas. We have designed a non-local metasurface to achieve vibrational strong coupling (VSC) between surface lattice resonance and the C=O stretching modes of both ethyl acetate and p-nitrophenyl acetate (PNPA). Within this VSC system, we observed a 2.7-fold increase in the solvolysis reaction of PNPA compared to the bare reaction. This finding highlights the robustness of metasurfaces in catalyzing chemical reactions via VSC. image