Engineering Plasmonic Environments for 2D Materials and 2D-Based Photodetectors

Two-dimensional layered materials are considered ideal platforms to study novel small-scale optoelectronic devices due to their unique electronic structures and fantastic physical properties. However, it is urgent to further improve the light–matter interaction in these materials because their light absorption efficiency is limited by the atomically thin thickness. One of the promising approaches is to engineer the plasmonic environment around 2D materials for modulating light–matter interaction in 2D materials. This method greatly benefits from the advances in the development of nanofabrication and out-plane van der Waals interaction of 2D materials. In this paper, we review a series of recent works on 2D materials integrated with plasmonic environments, including the plasmonic-enhanced photoluminescence quantum yield, strong coupling between plasmons and excitons, nonlinear optics in plasmonic nanocavities, manipulation of chiral optical signals in hybrid nanostructures, and the improvement of the performance of optoelectronic devices based on composite systems.     

Emerging advances in plasmonic nanoassemblies for biosensing and cell imaging

Integrating discrete plasmonic nanoparticles into assemblies can induce plasmonic coupling that produces collective plasmonic properties, which are not available for single nanoparticles. Theoretical analysis revealed that plasmonic coupling derived from assemblies could produce stronger electromagnetic field enhancement effects. Thus, plasmonic assemblies enable better performance in plasmon-based applications,such as enhanced fluorescence and Raman effects. This makes them hold great potential...     

SERS detection of streptavidin/biotin monolayer assemblies

A two-dimensional array of gold nanotriangles inscribed onto glass coverslips were optimized for the surface-enhanced Raman detection of streptavidin/biotin monolayer assemblies. The nanostructures were fabricated by electron beam lithography, and its optical parameters were optimized to be probed under a Raman microscope with a linearly polarized He-Ne laser with an excitation wavelength of λ = 632.8 nm. The platforms were first tested against a monolayer of biotinylated alkanethiols (BAT) functionalized over the gold nanostructure, showing that good-quality spectra could be acquired with a short acquisition time. The supramolecular interaction of streptavidin (strep) with BAT showed subsequent modification of the Raman spectrum that implies a change in the secondary structure of the host biomolecule (streptavidin). Compared to gold surfaces without nanoscale structures, the local enhancement that results from our nanostructured surfaces allows one to detect the vibrational signal of monolayers within a time on the order of seconds and under modest laser intensity, further demonstrating the utility of using plasmonic metallic nanostructures for molecular recognition.     

Optical enhancement effects of plasmonic nanostructures on organic photovoltaic cells

In this article, the optical enhancement effects of plasmonic nanostructures on OPV cells were reviewed as an effective way to resolve the mismatch problems between the short exciton diffusion length in organic semiconductors (around 10 nm) and the large thickness required to fully absorb sunlight (e.g. hundreds of nanometers). Especially, the performances of OPVs with plasmonic nanoparticles in photoactive and buffer layers and with periodic nanostructures were investigated. Furthermore, nanoimprint lithography-based nanofabrication processes that can easily control the dimension and uniformity of structures for large-area and uniform plasmonic nanostructures were demonstrated.     

Nanostructured materials with localized surface plasmon resonance for photocatalysis

Localized surface plasmon resonance（LSPR） enhanced photocatalysis has fascinated much interest and considerable efforts have been devoted toward the development of plasmonic photocatalysts.In the past decades,noble metal nanoparticles（Au and Ag） with LSPR feature have found wide applications in solar energy conversion.Numerous metal-based photocatalysts have been proposed including metal/semiconductor heterostructures and plasmonic bimetallic or multimetallic nanostructures.However,high cost and...     

Plasmonic approach to enhanced fluorescence for applications in biotechnology and the life sciences

One of the most rapidly growing areas of physics and nanotechnology is concerned with plasmonic effects on the nanometer scale; these have applications in sensing and imaging technologies. Nanoplasmonic colloids such as Ag and Au have been attracting active interest, and there has been a recent explosion in the use of these metallic nanostructures to modify the spectral properties of fluorophores favorably and to enhance the fluorescence emission intensity. In this feature article, we summarize our work over a range of nanoplasmonics-assisted biological applications such as flow cytometry, immunoassays, cell imaging and bioassays where we use custom-designed plasmonic nanostructures (Ag and Au) to enhance fluorescence signatures. This fluorophore-metal effect offers unique advantages in providing improved photostability and enhanced fluorescence signals. We discuss the plasmonic enhancement of lanthanide fluorophores whose long and microsecond lifetimes offer the advantage of background-free fluorescence detection, but low photon cycling rates lead to poor brightness. We also show that plasmonic colloids are capable of enhancing the emission of fluorescent nanoparticles, including upconverting nanocrystals and lanthanide nanocomposites.     

Self-assembly of Micrometer-long DNA Nanoribbons with Four Oligonucleotides

DNA nanostructures have found widespread applications in areas including nanoelectronics and biomedicine. However, traditional DNA origami needs a long single‐stranded virus DNA and hundreds of short DNA strands, which make this method complicated and money‐consuming. Here, we present a protocol for the assembly of DNA nanoribbons with only four oligonucleotides. DNA nanoribbons with different dimensions were successfully assembled with a 96‐base scafford strand and three short staples. These biotinylated nanoribbons could also be decorated with streptavidins. This approach suggests that there exist great design spaces for the creation of simple nucleic acid nanostructures which could facilitate their application in plasmonic or drug delivery.     

Electrochemical plasmonic sensors

The enormous progress of nanotechnology during the last decade has made it possible to fabricate a great variety of nanostructures. On the nanoscale, metals exhibit special electrical and optical properties, which can be utilized for novel applications. In particular, plasmonic sensors including both the established technique of surface plasmon resonance and more recent nanoplasmonic sensors, have recently attracted much attention. However, some of the simplest and most successful sensors, such as the glucose biosensor, are based on electrical readout. In this review we describe the implementation of electrochemistry with plasmonic nanostructures for combined electrical and optical signal transduction. We highlight results from different types of metallic nanostructures such as nanoparticles, nanowires, nanoholes or simply films of nanoscale thickness. We briefly give an overview of their optical properties and discuss implementation of electrochemical methods. In particular, we review studies on how electrochemical potentials influence the plasmon resonances in different nanostructures, as this type of fundamental understanding is necessary for successful combination of the methods. Although several combined platforms exist, many are not yet in use as sensors partly because of the complicated effects from electrochemical potentials on plasmon resonances. Yet, there are clearly promising aspects of these sensor combinations and we conclude this review by discussing the advantages of synchronized electrical and optical readout, illustrating the versatility of these technologies.     

New tools for rapid clinical and bioagent diagnostics: microwaves and plasmonic nanostructures

In this timely review, we summarize recent work on ultra-fast and sensitive bioassays based on microwave heating, and provide our current interpretation of the role of the combined use of microwave energy and plasmonic nanostructures for applications in rapid clinical and bioagent diagnostics. The incorporation of microwave heating into plasmonic nanostructure-based bioassays brings new advancements to diagnostic tests. A temperature gradient, created by the selective heating of water in the presence of plasmonic nanostructures, results in an increased mass transfer of target biomolecules towards the biorecognition partners placed on the plasmonic nanostructures, enabling diagnostic tests to be completed in less than a minute, and in some cases only a few seconds, by further microwave heating. The diagnostic tests can also be run in complex biological samples, such as human serum and whole blood.     

Recent Advances in Plasmonic Nanostructures Applied for Label-free Single-cell Analysis

Cellular heterogeneity presents a major challenge in understanding the relationship between cells of particular genotype and response in disease. In order to characterize the cell-to-cell differences during the biochemical processes, single-cell analysis is necessary. Profiting from the unique localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) and Mie scattering, plasmonic nanostructures have revealed stable and adjustable scattering signals, avoiding photobleaching, blinking and autofluorescence phenomenon. These characterizations are propitious to the dynamic trace and biological image of single living cells. In this review, we discuss the recent advances in plasmonic nanostructures applied for label-free detection and monitoring of target cells at single-cell level by using three different techniques, surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS), surface-enhanced Infrared absorption spectroscopy (SEIRAS), and dark-field microscopy. Various avenues to design plasmonic probes combining spectra and imaging for single-cell analysis are demonstrated as well. We hope this review can highlight the superiority of plasmonic nanostructures in single cellular analysis, and further motivate the development of label-free cell analysis technique to elucidate cellular diversity and heterogeneity.     

Synthesis and bioanalytical applications of specific-shaped metallic nanostructures: A review

Many successful synthesis routes for producing different shapes of metallic nanostructures, including sphere, rod, cube, and hollow shapes, have been developed in the past few decades. Many applications using these nanostructures have been studied because the outstanding properties of the nanostructures are not exhibited by their bulk-state counterparts. This review paper reports some recent developments in clinical and biosensor applications. The first part focused on the synthesis methods of metallic nanostructures having various shapes along with their optical properties. The second and third part is an introduction of the gold nanoparticle assemblies and arrays, explaining the conjugation methods of metallic nanostructures with biological entities. The final part reviews on the recent bioanalytical applications using various shapes of metallic nanostructures.     

Electrochemical Synthesis of Plasmonic Nanostructures

Thanks to their tunable and strong interaction with light, plasmonic nanostructures have been investigated for a wide range of applications. In most cases, controlling the electric field enhancement at the metal surface is crucial. This can be achieved by controlling the metal nanostructure size, shape, and location in three dimensions, which is synthetically challenging. Electrochemical methods can provide a reliable, simple, and cost-effective approach to nanostructure metals with a high degree of geometrical freedom. Herein, we review the use of electrochemistry to synthesize metal nanostructures in the context of plasmonics. Both template-free and templated electrochemical syntheses are presented, along with their strengths and limitations. While template-free techniques can be used for the mass production of low-cost but efficient plasmonic substrates, templated approaches offer an unprecedented synthetic control. Thus, a special emphasis is given to templated electrochemical lithographies, which can be used to synthesize complex metal architectures with defined dimensions and compositions in one, two and three dimensions. These techniques provide a spatial resolution down to the sub-10 nanometer range and are particularly successful at synthesizing well-defined metal nanoscale gaps that provide very large electric field enhancements, which are relevant for both fundamental and applied research in plasmonics.     

Controlled optical manipulation and sorting of nanomaterials enabled by photonic and plasmonic nanodevices

Precise manipulation and sorting of nanomaterials cannot rely on techniques used for micro- and macro-scale objects because of their nanoscale size, which is smaller than the diffraction limit, and their fast Brownian diffusion. To overcome the limitations of standard optical tweezers, new techniques have recently emerged that make use of optical forces acting on nanomaterials in the vicinity of photonic and plasmonic nanostructures. This review focuses on the techniques that have been recently developed to either optically transport, sort, trap, rotate, assemble, or deposit nanomaterials using photonic or plasmonic devices. The first part is dedicated to the optical transport and sorting of nanomaterials using photonic waveguides. The second part provides an overview of the recent work on optical trapping and manipulation of nanomaterials using photonic and plasmonic nanoresonators. The third part provides a short summary of recent work on optical trapping and manipulation using metalenses and metasurfaces. This review aims to highlight some specific functionalities enabled by photonic and plasmonic devices that make it possible to tailor the optical forces acting on nanomaterials.     

Metallic Heterostructures for Plasmon-Enhanced Electrocatalysis

Metallic heterogeneous nanostructures with plasmonic functionality have attracted great attention in the field of plasmon-enhanced electrocatalysis, where surface plasmons produced under light excitation could facilitate the overall electrocatalytic performances. Owing to their controllability, multifunctionality, and complexity, heterogeneous metallic nanostructures take advantages of the properties from individual components and synergistic effects from adjacent components, thus may achieve remarkable electrocatalytic performances. This review highlights the state-of-the-art progress of the application of metallic heterostructures for plasmon-enhanced electrocatalysis. First, a brief introduction to plasmonic heterogeneous nanostructures is demonstrated. Then, fundamental principles of localized surface plasmon resonance and the underlying mechanisms of plasmonic heterogeneous nanostructures in catalysis are discussed. This is followed by a discussion of recent advances of plasmonic heterogeneous nanostructures in plasmon-enhanced electrocatalysis, in which the enhanced activity, selectivity, and stability are particularly emphasized. Finally, an outlook of remaining challenges and future opportunities for plasmonic heterogeneous nanomaterials and plasmon-related electrocatalysis is presented.     

Titania‐Coated Metal Nanostructures

The synergistic effect between metal and TiO₂ nanoparticles brings about new, enhanced functionalities for a myriad of applications, ranging from labeling and sensing to catalysis and surface‐enhanced Raman scattering. Although extensive work has been done in the preparation of concentric TiO₂‐coated metal nanostructures, current methods for the synthesis of noncentrosymmetric morphologies are still very limited. This Focus review summarizes the various methods used to prepare TiO₂‐coated metal nanostructures, with a particular emphasis on noncentrosymmetric morphologies, their novel plasmonic properties, and their promising applications in the fields of catalysis and photocatalysis.     

Plasmonic vesicles of amphiphilic gold nanocrystals: self-assembly and external-stimuli-triggered destruction

We have developed a new class of plasmonic vesicular nanostructures assembled from amphiphilic gold nanocrystals with mixed polymer brush coatings. One major finding is that the integration of gold nanocrystals (nanoparticles and nanorods) with two types of chemically distinct polymer grafts, which are analogous to block copolymers as a whole, creates a new type of hybrid building block inheriting the amphiphilicity-driven self-assembly of block copolymers to form vesicular structures and the plasmonic properties of the nanocrystals. In contrast to other vesicular structures, the disruption of the plasmonic vesicles can be triggered by stimulus mechanisms inherent to either the polymer or the nanocrystal. Recent advances in nanocrystal synthesis and controlled surface-initiated polymerization have opened a wealth of possibilities for expanding this concept to other types of nanocrystals and integrating different types of nanocrystals into multifunctional vesicles. The development of multifunctional vesicles containing stimuli-responsive polymers could enable their broader applications in biosensing, multimodality imaging, and theragnostic nanomedicine.     

DNA纳米结构在药物转运载体和智能载药中的应用进展

纳米材料具有荷载效率高、靶向性能好、半衰期较长等优点, 非常适于作为药物转运载体, 可有效提高药物的水溶性、稳定性和疾病治疗效果.目前, 开发具有良好生物相容性、可控靶向释放能力和精确载药位点的理想药物转运载体, 仍是该领域存在的挑战性问题和当前研究的重点.自组装DNA纳米结构是一类具有精确结构、功能多样的纳米生物材料, 具有良好的生物相容性和稳定性、较高的膜渗透性和可控靶向释放能力等优点, 是理想的药物转运载体和智能载药材料.本文总结了DNA纳米结构的发展历程、DNA纳米结构作为药物转运载体的研究现状、动态DNA纳米结构在智能载药中的应用进展, 并对其发展前景进行了展望.     

Laser-induced forward-transfer with light possessing orbital angular momentum

Helical light fields may carry both orbital angular and spin angular momentum which is respectively associated with their helical wavefronts (optical vortices) and rotating transverse electric fields. Interestingly, these helical light fields interact with materials and the orbital angular momentum of these fields can physically twist a range of materials, including metals, semiconductors, polymers, and liquids. With the aid of spin angular momentum, these fields can also form a range of helical structures. This light-matter interaction based on transfer of angular momentum has the potential to revolutionize industrial processes and enable technologies, such as advanced non-contact and nozzle-free printing. In this review paper, we focus on this printing technique, a process which we herein refer to as optical vortex laser induced forward transfer, and we show how it can be used for the production of next generation printed photonics/electronics/spintronics devices. Herein we review the interactions between the angular momentum of light and materials, and we discuss the ways in which optical vortices can be used to produce a variety of exotic structures. We also discuss the current state-of-the art of laser-induced forward-transfer technologies and detail some of the most novel devices, which have been fabricated using this optical vortex laser induced forward transfer, including hexagonal close-packed photonic-rings and plasmonic nanocores.     

Bottom-up assembly of colloidal gold and silver nanostructures for designable plasmonic structures and metamaterials

We report on bottom-up assembly routes for fabricating plasmonic structures and metamaterials composed of colloidal gold and silver nanostructures, such as nanoparticles ("metatoms") and shape-controlled nanocrystals. Owing to their well-controlled sizes/shapes, facile surface functionalization, and excellent plasmonic properties in the visible and near-infrared regions, these nanoparticles and nanocrystals are excellent building blocks of plasmonic structures and metamaterials for optical applications. Recently, we have utilized two kinds of bottom-up techniques (i.e., multiple-probe-based nanomanipulation and layer-by-layer self-assembly) to fabricate strongly coupled plasmonic dimers, one-dimensional (1D) chains, and large-scale two-dimensional/three-dimensional (2D/3D) nanoparticle supercrystals. These coupled nanoparticle/nanocrystal assemblies exhibit unique and tunable plasmonic properties, depending on the material composition, size/shape, intergap distance, the number of composing nanoparticles/nanocrystals (1D chains), and the nanoparticle layer number in the case of 3D nanoparticle supercrystals. By studying these coupled nanoparticle/nanocrystal assemblies, the fundamental plasmonic metamaterial effects could be investigated in detail under well-prepared and previously unexplored experimental settings.     

Coupling between molecular and plasmonic resonances in freestanding dye-gold nanorod hybrid nanostructures

Hybrid nanostructures of organic dyes and inorganic gold nanorods are constructed using the layer-by-layer assembly method via electrostatic interactions. Strong coupling is observed between the molecular resonance of dyes and the plasmonic resonance of gold nanorods when their spectra overlap strongly. The coupling strength is tuned by choosing gold nanorods with longitudinal plasmon wavelengths varying from 570 to 870 nm. The resonance coupling-induced plasmon shift is found to be strongly dependent on the dye concentration and the spacing between the dye and nanorod. Moreover, the resonance coupling can be switched off by laser illumination to decompose adsorbed dyes. We believe this is the first time that the coupling between molecular and plasmonic resonances is observed for freestanding hybrid nanostructures constructed out of dyes and colloidal gold nanorods. These results will be helpful in understanding the fundamental interactions between molecular and plasmonic resonances and useful for the design of resonance coupling-based chemical and biological sensors.