Preparation and Size Characterization of Silver Nanoparticles Produced by Femtosecond Laser Ablation in Water

Femtosecond laser ablation of silver plate placed in water is used to produce nanoparticle suspension. The method is easy to operate and the suspension is relatively stable. The optical properties and the size distribution of the suspension are studied with UV-vis absorption spectroscopy and dynamic light scattering, respectively. The shape of the nanoparticles is investigated by an atomic force microscope, which is near spherical. There are two kinds of nanoparticles, small particles with diameter about 35 nm, and large particles with diameter about 120 nm.     

Influence of surface plasmon resonance wavelength on SERS activity of naturally grown silver nanoparticle ensemble

We present experimental results to quantify and optimize the surface‐enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) activity of naturally grown silver nanoparticles. Ag nanoparticle ensembles with mean equivalent radii ranging from 10.6 to 20.3 nm were prepared under ultrahigh vacuum conditions by Volmer–Weber growth on quartz plates. A tuning of the localized surface plasmon polariton resonance wavelength from 453 to 548 nm was performed by varying the morphology of the silver nanoparticles. The dependence of the SERS activity on the plasmon resonance wavelength was investigated with a Raman set‐up containing a microsystem light source with an emission line at 488 nm. Shifted excitation Raman difference spectroscopy was applied to remove the fluorescence‐based background from the SERS spectra of pyrene in water using two slightly different emission wavelengths (487.61 and 487.91 nm) of the microsystem light source. We demonstrate that the Raman activities for all SERS substrates are available in the nanomolar range in a water sample. However, the Raman activity crucially depends on the plasmon resonance wavelength of the nanoparticle ensembles. Although for an on‐resonance ensemble the limit of detection for pyrene in water is very low and was estimated to be 2 nmol/L, it increases rapidly to several tens of nanomol for slightly off‐resonance ensembles. Hence, the highest SERS activity was obtained with a nanoparticle ensemble exhibiting a plasmon resonance wavelength at 491 nm, which almost coincides with the excitation wavelengths. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Donor doping of single-walled carbon nanotubes by filling of channels with silver

The channels of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) are filled with metallic silver. The synthesized nanocomposites are studied by Raman spectroscopy and optical absorption spectroscopy, and these data indicate a substantial modification of the electronic structure of the nanotubes upon their filling. Moreover, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy shows that the incorporation of the metal leads to a change in the work function of SWNTs due to the Fermi level upshift and to the transfer of an electron density from inserted nanoparticles to the nanotube walls. Thus, the filling of the channels with silver results in donor doping of the nanotubes.     

Plasmonics and SERS activity of post-transition metal nanoparticles

Nanoparticles of the post-transition metals, In, Sn, Pb, and Bi, and of the metalloid Sb were produced by laser ablation synthesis in solution (LASiS) and tested for localized surface plasmon resonances (LSPR) and surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS). The nanoparticles were characterized by UV-Vis optical absorption, dynamic light scattering (DLS), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Several organic and biological molecules were tested, and SERS activity was demonstrated for all tested nanoparticles and molecules. The Raman enhancement factor for each nanoparticle class and molecule was experimentally determined. The search for new plasmonic nanostructures is important mainly for life sciences-related applications and this study expands the range of SERS active systems.     

银纳米粒子自组装复合LB膜的结构与性质

纳米粒子的自组装和有序组装膜的结构与性质近年来受到了人们的广泛关注,纳米粒子的表面结构与性质对由其组装成的有序膜的结构与性质有直接的影响。文章报道了利用自组装技术制备的银纳米粒子与双亲有机分子的单层和多层复合LB膜,通过吸收光谱和表面增强拉曼光谱研究了银纳米粒子与吸附分子间的相互作用,探讨了复合膜的成膜特性及银纳米粒子的拉曼增强特性。十八胺/银粒子复合LB膜的吸收光谱及拉曼光谱显示,十八胺分子与银纳米粒子表面的活位通过NH₂中的氮原子以复合体的形式结合;同时,在激发光的作用下复合体可能存在光催化过程。根据银粒子复合LB膜的实验结果,十八胺和十八酸之间的反应产物在复合膜中起空间位阻作用,与银粒子表面的相互作用较弱。     

Generation of web-like structures and nanoparticles by femtosecond laser ablation of silicon target in ambient air

Silicon nanoparticles were produced by femtosecond laser ablation in ambient air. Obtained samples were studied using dark-field optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy and Raman-scattering spectroscopy. Two groups of structures can be found: (1) branched amorphous structures with a minimum element size of about 10 nm and incorporations of nanocrystals (0.6–6.6 nm from Raman scattering analysis); (2) larger crystal particles with smooth surface and a typical size of 50–200 nm that provide directional visible light scattering (at dark-field optical microscopy observations). An influence of environment on resulting phase composition of silicon nanoparticles was investigated by numerical evaluation of nanoparticle’s cooling rate. The calculation shows that cooling in ambient air ensures cooling rate sufficient for crystallization.     

Plasmonic coupling from silver nanoparticle dimer array mediating surface plasmon resonant enhancement on the thin silver film

We investigate the optical absorption spectrum of a periodic array of silver nanoparticle dimer on a thin silver film using multiple-scattering formalism. Surface plasmon polariton mediated from silver nanoparticle dimer array is excited and enhanced by about four times compared with that from monomer array. This enhancement results from the coupling between the two nanoparticles’ plasmons of symmetry mode and anti-symmetry mode. We also illustrate the distance-dependent nanoparticle plasmonic coupling modes based on the polarized charge distribution in dimer geometry. The proposed silver nanoparticle dimer array can be used to enhance surface spectroscopy.     

Structure and optical properties of the silver/polyacrylonitrile nanocomposites

Small-angle X-ray scattering is used to prove the formation of silver nanoparticles with sizes of 5–11 nm in siver/polyacrylonitrile nanocomposites synthesized via photopolymerization of a mixture containing silver, acrylonitrile, and photoinitiator. Optical spectra of nanocomposites obtained under different conditions are studied. The absorption spectra exhibit maxima at wavelengths of 420–450 nm related to the surface plasmon resonance of silver nanoparticles. IR spectra of the nanocomposites prove the formation of polyacrylonitrile in the course of the photopolymerization of monomer. The formation of metal nanoimpurities in polymer matrix leads to an increase in the intensity of photoluminescence and Raman scattering of polyacrylonitrile.     

Enhancement of Raman scattering of light by ultramarine microcrystals in presence of silver nanoparticles

Approximately 10²‐fold enhancement of Raman scattering by ultramarine microcrystals is reported by means of interaction with silver nanoparticles in films and powders. Theoretical modeling predicts the maximal 10¹⁰‐fold enhancement in close vicinity of a silver spherical nanoparticle (0.24 nm) with rapid decay of enhancement factor to 1 in the range of approximately 50 nm. Experimental enhancement factor is treated as overall effect within the small portion of every microcrystal in the close vicinity of silver nanoparticle(s). The results are considered as an important extension of traditional surface enhanced molecular Raman spectroscopy towards bigger inorganic probes. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

基于多形貌银纳米颗粒的多波长相干随机激光研究

采用溶剂热法分别制备了球形银纳米颗粒和多形貌银纳米颗粒,其中球形银纳米颗粒具有400 nm的窄带等离激元共振峰,而多形貌银纳米颗粒的共振区间在400～700 nm之间,将它们分别掺入R6G与PVP的混合溶液中,利用旋涂法在玻璃基板上制备银纳米颗粒嵌入染料掺杂聚合物薄膜随机激光器。采用纳秒脉冲激光进行随机激光泵浦实验,实验结果表明球形银纳米颗粒染料掺杂聚合物薄膜只有自发辐射峰,而多形貌银纳米颗粒染料掺杂聚合物薄膜具有线宽<0.8 nm的相干随机激光发射光谱,其阈值为1.9 mJ·cm-2, 这可能是由于银纳米颗粒的等离激元共振区间与R6G的发射光谱重叠,支持局域等离激元效应的形成,明显的局域场增强有效地改善了与附近分子的相互作用,从而激发了更多的辐射光子,促进了高增益的形成。进一步,利用多形貌银纳米颗粒在银纳米颗粒染料掺杂聚合物薄膜中随机分布的特性,通过改变泵浦位置,实现了20 nm范围内的随机激光输出波长的调控,具体输出范围为590.1～610.4 nm。认为这是由于多形貌银纳米颗粒在不同位置的组成和分布不同,改变了表面等离激元的相互作用和光子的散射能力,从而形成不同的增益效应和不同的封闭光振荡路径。此外,考虑到多形貌银纳米颗粒的共振波长较宽,探究了其用于输出其他颜色光的可能性。以与上述银纳米颗粒R6G染料掺杂聚合物薄膜相似的制备方法,制备了多形貌银纳米颗粒掺杂DCJTB染料聚合物薄膜,并且进行随机激光泵浦实验。结果表明,可以有效的产生波长为675 nm,半高宽<0.8 nm的相干红光随机激光,并且阈值仅为0.98 mJ·cm-2。研究结果在宽带可调谐随机激光器研究以及多色随机激光器研究领域具有重要的参考价值。     

基于单个花状银纳米颗粒的表面增强拉曼散射效应研究

在室温下,以硝酸银为银源,抗坏血酸为还原剂,通过调节表面活性剂聚乙烯吡络烷酮的浓度,实现对花状银纳米颗粒的可控制备。利用扫描电子显微镜、原子力显微镜、X射线衍射和X射线能谱等手段检测并分析了材料的形貌结构和成分组成。实验结果表明,当聚乙烯吡络烷酮的浓度为0.1 mol/L时,所制备花状银纳米颗粒的表面结构达到最精细的状态且颗粒的尺寸达到微米量级,适合对单颗粒进行定位与光学性质研究。以结构最优化的花状银纳米颗粒为表面增强拉曼散射基底材料,以羟基苯甲酸为探针,对单个和少数颗粒的表面增强拉曼散射效应进行了研究,并借助暗场散射光谱分析了基底的表面增强拉曼散射机理。结果显示,该花状银纳米颗粒因其独特的表面结构为拉曼信号增强提供了大量“热点”。良好的拉曼性能以及较低的制备成本表明,该新型表面增强拉曼散射基底具有很大的应用前景。     

Plasmon point spread functions： How do we model plasmon-mediated emission processes？

A major challenge with studying plasmon-mediated emission events is the small size of plasmonic nanoparticles relative to the wavelength of light. Objects smaller than roughly half the wavelength of light will appear as diffraction-limited spots in far-field optical images, presenting a significant experimental challenge for studying plasmonic processes on the nanoscale. Super-resolution imaging has recently been applied to plasmonic nanosystems and allows plasmon-mediated emission to be resolved on the order of ~5 nm. In super-resolution imaging, a diffraction-limited spot is fit to some model function in order to calculate the position of the emission centroid, which represents the loca- tion of the emitter. However, the accuracy of the centroid position strongly depends on how well the fitting function describes the data. This Perspective discusses the commonly used two-dimensional Gaussian fitting function applied to super-resolution imaging of plasmon-mediated emission, then introduces an alternative model based on dipole point spread flmctions. The two fitting models are compared and contrasted for super-resolution imaging of nanoparticle scattering/luminescence, surface-enhanced Raman scattering, and surface-enhanced fluorescence.     

Control of the input efficiency of photons into solar cells with plasmonic nanoparticles

We study numerically the photon input efficiency of silicon solar cells due to gold plasmonic nanoparticles deposited on the cells. At low densities, when collective effects in light scattering by the nanoparticle ensemble are negligible, the absorption dependence increases linearly for a significant range of the solar spectrum. Collective effects lead to the input efficiency saturates, reaches its maximum and then decreases with nanoparticle density. The maximal input efficiency depends on the photon wavelength, nanoparticle shape and size, their distance to the cell, and the cell thickness, and can reach ~ 95% in thick solar cells. Finally, we show that aluminum nanoparticles improve the input efficiency in comparison with gold nanoparticles.     

具有双共振吸收峰的Au纳米粒子制备及其拉曼表征

表面增强拉曼散射(SERS)很大程度的弥补了拉曼散射强度弱的缺点,迅速成为科研工作者们的研究热点,在食品安全、环境污染、毒品以及爆炸物检测等领域应用广泛。纳米技术的发展使得目前对于SERS的研究主要集中于金属纳米颗粒基底的制备,金属纳米粒子的种类、尺寸及形貌对SERS增强和吸收峰峰位均有影响,要获得好的增强效果,需要对金属纳米结构进行工艺优化。特别是,需要结合金属纳米粒子的结构和激励光波长,以期获得更好的增强效果。为了研究SERS增强和吸收峰之间的关系,开展了具有双共振吸收峰的金属纳米粒子的研究。首先利用FDTD Solutions仿真建模,主要针对金纳米颗粒直径、金纳米棒长径比及分布状态对共振吸收峰进行仿真,得到金纳米球理论直径在50 nm左右,金纳米棒理论长径比在3.5~4.5左右时,吸收峰分别分布在532及785 nm附近,符合多波段激励光拉曼增强条件;对于激励光偏振方向,其沿金纳米棒长轴方向偏振时吸收峰位于785 nm附近,沿金纳米球短轴方向偏振时吸收峰位于532 nm附近。然后采用种子生长法,制备了可用于多种波长激励光的双吸收峰表面增强拉曼散射基底。通过改变硝酸银用量(5,10,20,30和40 μL)、盐酸用量(0.1和0.2 mL)以及其生长时间(15,17,21和23 h)等多种工艺参数来控制金纳米棒含量,得到了同时含有金纳米球及金纳米棒的双吸收共振峰金纳米粒子。最后用该样品作为基底,罗丹明6G(R6G)作为探针分子,分别测试其在532,633和785 nm激励光入射时的SERS表征,对分析物R6G最低检测浓度均达到了10-7 mol·L-1,增强因子达到了~105,满足了多波段SERS检测的需要。     

金纳米粒子掺杂DNA-CTMA-DPFP薄膜的表面增强拉曼散射特性

采用柠檬酸三钠还原氯金酸和离子交换法制备金纳米粒子掺杂DNA-CTMA材料,利用钯催化反应合成9,9-二乙基-2,7-二-(4-吡啶)芴荧光染料(DPFP),将DPFP与DNA-CTMA混合后,旋凃制备金纳米粒子掺杂的DNA-CTMA-DPFP薄膜样品。通过吸收光谱、荧光光谱和拉曼光谱的测量,研究了薄膜样品的光学特性和表面增强拉曼散射(SERS)特性。实验结果表明,薄膜样品在300～360 nm的吸收主要来自DPFP,在500～700 nm的吸收来自样品中金纳米粒子的局域表面等离子共振;样品在370,386,408 nm处的荧光峰分别对应DPFP的S₁₀-S₀₀、S₁₀-S₀₁和S₁₀-S₀₂能级的电子振动跃迁;在785 nm激光激发下,薄膜样品的拉曼散射主要来自DPFP分子,随着金纳米粒子掺杂比的增大,DPFP分子的拉曼散射峰强度逐渐增强。因此,金纳米粒子掺杂DNA-CTMA薄膜适合作为多种染料分子的SERS基底。     

Raman of indigo on a silver surface. Raman and theoretical characterization of indigo deposited on silicon dioxide-coated and uncoated silver nanoparticles

Raman, surface-enhanced Raman scattering, and shell isolated nanoparticles-enhanced Raman scattering techniques were used to study the indigo–nanoparticle interaction nature. Silver nanoparticles were employed with and without a silicon dioxide spacer inert layer. The SERS spectral profile, obtained using silver nanoparticles, is different from the Raman one, which led to the proposition that the indigo–silver interaction is in the range of intermolecular interactions. SERS spectral reproducibility suggests identical organization and orientation of the analyte on the metal surface. The shell isolated nanoparticles enhanced Raman scattering spectrum of indigo, obtained by using silicon dioxide coated silver nanoparticles resulted similar to its Raman spectrum. This result indicates that the indigo structure is chemically unmodified by the silicon dioxide-coated silver surface. From the shell-isolated nanoparticles-enhanced Raman scattering experiments, the electromagnetic mechanism is proposed as the reason for the spectral enhancement. Theoretical calculations allow one to infer both the indigo–silver surface interaction nature and the orientation of indigo on the surface.     

Fabrication and characterization of a granular film consisting of size-selected silver nanoparticles: application to a SERS substrate

Uniform-sized silver nanoparticles with average diameter of 13.7 nm have been prepared in the gas-phase by combining a pulsed laser ablation method with a low pressure-differential mobility analyzer (LP-DMA). By depositing the silver nanoparticles onto a silicon substrate, a granular film consisting of size-selected silver nanoparticles has been fabricated and its morphology and electronic properties have been examined using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and UV-visible absorption spectroscopy. This granular silver film serves as a highly active substrate for surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS).     

绿色合成银纳米粒子及其在SERS中的应用

采用无毒、绿色的酪氨酸作为还原剂和稳定剂,在碱性条件下还原硝酸银,经60 ℃恒温水浴处理20 min,成功地合成了银纳米粒子。混合溶液颜色由淡黄色变为棕黄色直观地呈现了银纳米粒子的生成。利用紫外可见吸收光谱(UV-Vis)和透射电子显微镜(TEM)对制备样品进行分析和表征。粒子的UV-Vis吸收在412 nm附近。TEM图像显示,银纳米粒子的形状近似球形,粒子直径在15～25 nm。分别以结晶紫(CV)和叶酸(FA)为探测分子,进一步研究了该银纳米粒子的表面增强拉曼散射(SERS)效应。实验结果表明,该合成方法不仅方便、快速、绿色环保,而且合成的银纳米粒子对CV和FA分子有很好的SERS效应。     

Naturally grown Ag nanoparticles on quartz substrates as SERS substrate excited by a 488 nm diode laser system for SERDS

A silver nanoparticle ensemble was prepared under ultrahigh vacuum (UHV) conditions by Volmer–Weber growth on a quartz substrate for surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) investigations of pyrene molecules. To tune the surface plasmon resonance frequency in the vicinity of the excitation wavelength of 488 nm of the diode laser, the morphology of the silver nanoparticles was optimized. The substrates were mounted in a flow-through cell as part of the optical Raman set-up. A microsystem diode laser generates two slightly different emission wavelengths (λ=487.61 nm and λ=487.91 nm) with a spectral width <10 pm and an optical power of 20 mW, i.e. SERS experiments are possible but also shifted excitation Raman difference spectroscopy (SERDS) can be carried out. For trace analysis of pyrene in water we demonstrate SERS/SERDS experiments which lead to a limit of detection of 2 nmol/l for pyrene. These results suggest that with silver nanoparticle ensembles excited at their plasmon resonance at 488 nm combined SERS/SERDS measurements can be effectively performed for in-situ trace analysis of pollutant chemicals in water.     

表面等离子激元非线性表面增强拉曼散射效应

本文采用热蒸发法制备得到纳米Ag颗粒作为增强拉曼衬底, 利用入射光子与纳米颗粒表面价电子的相互作用机理, 激发出高能表面等离子激元, 其表面等离子形成的高能"热点"起到表面增强拉曼散射效果. 通过比较不同入射光强下的拉曼峰强, 指出纳米Ag颗粒的增强拉曼散射效果可以实现低探测光强下的高散射强度, 即纳米Ag颗粒的表面等离子激元具有非线性的表面增强拉曼散射效果, 可降低对样品的光、热损伤, 以利于拓展拉曼散射光谱的应用范围. 同时比较不同纳米Ag颗粒衬底的表面增强拉曼散射效果表明, 采用的热蒸发工艺具有较大的工艺域度, 具有较强的工艺兼容性.