Multipole plasmon resonances in gold nanorods

The optical properties of gold rods electrochemically deposited in anodic aluminum oxide templates have been investigated. Homogeneous suspensions of rods with an average diameter of 85 nm and varying lengths of 96, 186, 321, 465, 495, 578, 641, 735, and 1175 nm were fabricated. The purity and dimensions of these rod nanostructures allowed us to observe higher-order multipole resonances for the first time in a colloidal suspension. The experimental optical spectra agree with discrete dipole approximation calculations that have been modeled from the dimensions of the gold nanorods.     

Interaction of plasmon and molecular resonances for rhodamine 6G adsorbed on silver nanoparticles

Localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) is a key optical property of metallic nanoparticles. The peak position of the LSPR for noble-metal nanoparticles is highly dependent upon the refractive index of the surrounding media and has therefore been used for chemical and biological sensing. In this work, we explore the influence of resonant adsorbates on the LSPR of bare Ag nanoparticles (lambda(max,bare)). Specifically, we study the effect of rhodamine 6G (R6G) adsorption on the nanoparticle plasmon resonance because of its importance in single-molecule surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SMSERS). Understanding the coupling between the R6G molecular resonances and the nanoparticle plasmon resonances will provide further insights into the role of LSPR and molecular resonance in SMSERS. By tuning lambda(max,bare) through the visible wavelength region, the wavelength-dependent LSPR response of the Ag nanoparticles to R6G binding was monitored. Furthermore, the electronic transitions of R6G on Ag surface were studied by measuring the surface absorption spectrum of R6G on an Ag film. Surprisingly, three LSPR shift maxima are found, whereas the R6G absorption spectrum shows only two absorption features. Deconvolution of the R6G surface absorption spectra at different R6G concentrations indicates that R6G forms dimers on the metal surface. An electromagnetic model based on quasi-static (Gans) theory reveals that the LSPR shift features are associated with the absorption of R6G monomer and dimers. Electronic structure calculations of R6G under various conditions were performed to study the origin of the LSPR shift features. These calculations support the view that the R6G dimer formation is the most plausible cause for the complicated LSPR response. These findings show the extreme sensitivity of LSPR in elucidating the detailed electronic structure of a resonant adsorbate.     

Local surface plasmon resonance of single silver nanorice particles in the near-infrared

We report on the synthesis and optical spectra of silver nanorice particles. Two strong absorption bands are resolved in the near UV and near-IR region, and the dark field scattering spectra are consistent with the absorption spectra. Finite-difference time-domain simulations reveal that the peak in the IR region can be attributed to the E field that is parallel to the long axis, while the peak in the UV can be attributed to the E field perpendicular to the short axis of the silver nanorice particles.

Multimode resonances in silver nanocuboids

A rich variety of dipolar and higher order plasmon resonances have been predicted for nanoscale cubes and parallopipeds of silver, in contrast to the simple dipolar modes found on silver nanospheres or nanorods. However, in general, these multimode resonances are not readily detected in experimental colloidal ensembles, due primarily to the usual variation of size and shape of the particles obscuring or blending the individual extinction peaks. Recently, methods have been found to prepare silver parallopipeds with unprecedented shape control by nucleating the silver onto a tightly controlled suspension of gold nanorods (Okuno, Y.; Nishioka, K.; Kiya, A.; Nakashima, N.; Ishibashi, A.; Niidome, Y. Uniform and Controllable Preparation of Au-Ag Core-Shell Nanorods Using Anisotropic Silver Shell Formation on Gold Nanorods. Nanoscale 2010, 2, 1489-1493). The optical extinction spectra of suspensions of such monodisperse particles are found to contain multiple extinction peaks, which we show here to be due to the multimode resonances predicted by theoretical studies. Control of the radius of the nanoparticle edges is found to be an effective way to turn some of these modes on or off. These nanoparticles provide a flexible platform for the excitation, manipulation, and exploration of higher order plasmon resonances.     

Dielectrophoretic manipulation of suspended submicron particles

Planar and three-dimensiònal multi-electrode systems with dimensions of 2 - 40 microm were fabricated by IC technology and used for trapping and aggregation of microparticles. To achieve negative dielectrophoresis (repelling forces) in aqueous solution, radiofrequency (RF) electric fields were used. Experimentally, particles down to 100 nm in diameter were enriched and trapped as aggregates in field cages and dielectrophoretic microfilters and observed using confocal fluorimetry. Theoretically, single particles with an effective diameter down to about 35 nm should be trappable in micron field cages. Due to the unavoidable Ohmic heating, RF electric fields can induce liquid streaming in extremely small channels (12 microm in height). This can be used for pumping and particle enrichment but it enhances Brownian motion and counteracts dielectrophoretic trapping. Combining Brownian motion with ratchet-like dielectrophoretic forces enables the creation of Brownian pumps that could be used as sensitive separation devices for submicron particles if liquid pumping is avoided in smaller structures.     

Localized surface plasmon resonances of anisotropic semiconductor nanocrystals

We demonstrate that anisotropic semiconductor nanocrystals display localized surface plasmon resonances that are dependent on the nanocrystal shape and cover a broad spectral region in the near-IR wavelengths. In-plane and out-of-plane dipolar resonances were observed for colloidal dispersions of Cu(2-x)S nanodisks, and the wavelengths of these resonances are in good agreement with calculations carried out in the electrostatic limit. The wavelength, line shape, and relative intensities of these plasmon bands can be tuned during the synthetic process by controlling the geometric aspect ratio of the disk or using a postsynthetic thermal-processing step to increase the free carrier densities.     

Surface plasmon resonances of silver triangle nanoplates: graphic assignments of resonance modes and linear fittings of resonance peaks

The extinction spectra of five silver equilateral triangle plates with a fixed thickness of 10 nm and side lengths of 50, 100, 150, 200 ,and 250 nm, respectively, have been simulated by the discrete dipole approximation (DDA) method in which a geometric object of interest is meshed and represented by a lattice of spatial dipoles. Irradiated by an incident plane wave with a given propagation direction and polarization state, each triangle nanoplate presents three surface plasmon resonance (SPR) peaks in the range of 300 to 1200 nm. At a given peak, every complex spatial oscillatory vector derived by DDA (corresponding to a certain dipole in the meshed target) is orthogonally resolved into three basic oscillations. Each basic component can be subsequently expressed by two parameters, amplitude (P) and phase angle (varphi). The distributions of six such physical parameters of all the dipoles in the selected cross plane of the target are illustrated colorfully in plots as a graphic characterization and assignment of the SPR modes. The graphic method is applied to reveal the local fine features of SPR modes. And it provides direct evidence for classifying SPR peaks which belong to different triangle nanoplates and appear at different wavelengths. Three SPR modes are recognized graphically and the wavelengths of SPR peaks are found to have linear relationships with the side lengths of the triangle nanoplates.     

Localized surface plasmon resonance spectroscopy near molecular resonances

The peak location of the localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) of noble metal nanoparticles is highly dependent upon the refractive index of the nanoparticles' surrounding environment. In this study, new phenomena are revealed by exploring the influence of interacting molecular resonances and nanoparticle resonances. The LSPR peak shift and line shape induced by a resonant molecule vary with wavelength. In most instances, the oscillatory dependence of the peak shift on wavelength tracks with the wavelength dependence of the real part of the refractive index, as determined by a Kramers-Kronig transformation of the molecular resonance absorption spectrum. A quantitative assessment of this shift based on discrete dipole approximation calculations shows that the Kramers-Kronig index must be scaled in order to match experiment.     

The fine structure of submicron iron particles

Summary High resolution electron micrographs are shown of samples of colloidal alpha iron. According to the conditions of manufacture the samples occur as (1) large, well-formed dendrites, (2) shorter, more fragile dendrites, (3) serrated rods, (4) needles and (5) cubic particulates. The central stem is a line-up of single cubic crystals. Representative dimensions are given for the various measurable units. A fine laminar structure in the cubic particulates, and some of the side branches and main stems is noted. The same laminar structure is observed in some of the background platelet material from the mother liquor. Stereoscopic studies show that the dendrites are three dimensional with their branches and main stem not in the same plane. X-ray diffraction detects alpha iron plus some form of Fe₂O₃ in most samples.

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Zusammenfassung Es werden elektronenmikroskopische Aufnahmen mit hohem Aufl?sungsverm?gen von kolloiden α-Eisenteilchen gezeigt. Entsprechend den Herstellungsbedingungen fallen die Teilchen als gro\e, gut ausgebildete Dendriten, als kürzere schw?chere Dendriten, als gezackte Stangen, als Nadeln und als kubische Partikeln an. Der zentrale Stamm ist eine lineare Anordnung aus einzelnen kubischen Kristallen. Repr?sentative Dimensionen sind für die verschiedenen me\baren Einheiten eingezeichnet. Eine fein laminierte Struktur der kubischen Teilchen und von einigen Seiten?sten und Hauptachsen ist zu erkennen. Dieselbe Laminarstruktur wird teilweise an dem pl?ttchenartigen Material, das als Untergrund aus der Mutterflüssigkeit dazwischen liegt, beobachtet. Stereoskopische Aufnahmen zeigen, da\ die Dendriten dreidimensional sind und da\ Seitenzweige und Hauptachsen nicht in der gleichen Ebene liegen. R?ntgeninterferenzen lassen aufα-Eisen, sowie eine Form von Fe₂O₃ in den meisten Proben schlie\en.

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The U.S. Navy Department, Bureau of Aeronautics, Industrial Planning Division, is credited with the development and sponsoring of the process for producing these fine powdered irons under contract No a (S) 52–792 C and NO a (S) 54–5190.

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Presented in part before the Conference and Exhibit on Magnetism and Magnetic Materials held at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, June 14, 15 and 16, 1955 and before the annual meeting of the Electron Microscope Society of America, held at State College, Pennsylvania, October 1955; abstract, J. App. Phys.26, 1391 (1955).     

Surface plasmon resonances, optical properties, and electrical conductivity thermal hystersis of silver nanofibers produced by the electrospinning technique

In the present study, silver metal nanofibers have been successfully prepared by using the electrospinning technique. Silver nanofibers have been produced by electrospinning a sol-gel consisting of poly(vinyl alcohol) and silver nitrate. The dried nanofiber mats have been calcined at 850 degrees C in an argon atmosphere. The produced nanofibers do have distinct plasmon resonance compared with the reported silver nanoparticles. Contrary to the introduced shapes of silver nanoparticles, the nanofibers have a blue-shifted plasmon resonance at 330 nm. Moreover, the optical properties study indicated that the synthesized nanofibers have two band gap energies of 0.75 and 2.34 eV. An investigation of the electrical conductivity behavior of the obtained nanofibers shows thermal hystersis. These privileged physical features greatly widen the applications of the prepared nanofibers in various fields.     

A SERS-active microfluidic device with tunable surface plasmon resonances

A surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS)-active microfluidic device with tunable surface plasmon resonances is presented here. It is constructed by silver grating substrates prepared by two-beam laser interference of photoresists and subsequent metal evaporation coating, as well as PDMS microchannel derived from soft lithography. By varying the period of gratings from 200 to 550 nm, surface plasmon resonances (SPRs) from the metal gratings could be tuned in a certain range. When the SPRs match with the Raman excitation line, the highest enhancement factor of 2×10(7) is achieved in the SERS detection. The SERS-active microchannel with tunable SPRs exhibits both high enhancement factor and reproducibility of SERS signals, and thus holds great promise for applications of on-chip SERS detection.     

Tunable localized surface plasmon resonances in tungsten oxide nanocrystals

Transition-metal oxide nanocrystals are interesting candidates for localized surface plasmon resonance hosts because they exhibit fascinating properties arising from the unique character of their outer-d valence electrons. WO(3-δ) nanoparticles are known to have intense visible and near-IR absorption, but the origin of the optical absorption has remained unclear. Here we demonstrate that metallic phases of WO(3-δ) nanoparticles exhibit a strong and tunable localized surface plasmon resonance, which opens up the possibility of rationally designing plasmonic tungsten oxide nanoparticles for light harvesting, bioimaging, and sensing.     

Seeded growth of submicron Au colloids with quadrupole plasmon resonance modes

A modified seeded growth process has been used for the controlled synthesis of quasispherical, CTAB-stabilized gold nanoparticles from 12 up to 180 nm with narrow size distributions. The UV-visible spectra of the aqueous colloids show distinct bands corresponding to dipole and quadrupole plasmon modes, for diameters above 100 nm, in close agreement with predictions based on Mie theory. The assignment of the modes is demonstrated by calculation of near field enhancement maps based on the boundary element method. Apart from other applications, since absorption is drastically reduced above 600 nm, while scattering is largely increased, these particles open new possibilities for construction of highly efficient photonic structures.     

Nanoscale mapping of plasmon resonances of functional multibranched gold nanoparticles

The optical response of multibranched gold nanoparticles is studied by means of electron energy-loss spectroscopy (EELS) in aberration corrected STEM mode. In every case the plasmon response is constant and variations in the maxima positions were found to be dependent on the branches aspect ratio. The good spatial resolution combined with the high energy resolution (0.18 eV) of the monochromated electron beam allows mapping the different plasmonic modes along the entire nanoparticles ranging from 0.7 eV up to 2.25 eV.     

具有SPR效应的Ag/Ag2MoO4材料在可见光区的光催化性能研究

作为一类新兴的光催化材料,钼酸盐纳米材料具有高表面能、多活性位点和高选择性等优点,在可见光催化降解污染物方面有着重要应用,近年来受到广泛关注.作为钼酸盐家族重要的一员,钼酸银在杀菌、表面增强拉曼光谱、气敏材料等方面均有重要应用,但其光催化性能却鲜见报道.这是由于它的光谱响应范围窄和广生载流子分离效率低所致.虽然近来有少量基于钼酸银的复合材料的光催化研究,但催化效果不佳.众所周知,作为自由电子体系,诸多金属纳米粒子,如贵金属、碱金属等,存在表面等离子体共振效应(SPR),使得贵金属,特别是Ag,Au等纳米粒子在可见区域有较强的吸收.利用这一特性,Awazu等将Ag纳米颗粒沉积在TiO2表面,创造性地将SPR应用于光催化反应,开发出在可见光谱区具有宽光谱吸收特征的Ag/TiO2.随后陆续合成出基于SPR效应的Ag@AgCl,Ag/Ag3PO4材料均具有良好的光催化性能.基于此,本文在十二烷基硫酸钠(SDS)的存在下,采用水热法一步合成了具有SPR效应的Ag/Ag2MoO4可见光催化材料,并利用X射线粉末衍射(XRD)、紫外可见漫反射(DRS)、X射线光电子能谱(XPS)和扫描电子显微镜(SEM)等技术对材料进行了表征.系统地探讨了体系pH值、反应时间、表面活性剂用量对产物的晶相和微观形貌等的影响.此外,还利用罗丹明B降解实验考察了上述合成条件对材料可见光催化活性的影响,并通过捕获剂实验深入地研究了起催化作用的活性物种.XRD结果表明,体系的pH值对材料的晶型有极大影响,随着pH由酸性变至中性、碱性,最终得到的钼酸银也由Ag2Mo2O7过渡到Ag2MoO4.SEM图显示在最优条件(pH为7,加入0.5 g SDS,160oC下水热14 h)下制得的钼酸银为八面体的Ag2MoO4,且其表面均匀地分布着Ag纳米颗粒,与XPS图谱结果一致.另外表面活性剂SDS的用量对所合成材料的形貌影响很大.本文可一步得到以八面体Ag2MoO4为主的Ag/Ag2MoO4复合材料,是因为SDS的疏水长链可以诱导Ag2MoO4的各向异性生长.DRS结果表明,Ag2MoO4八面体上Ag颗粒的引入使其在可见光区的吸收明显加强,因而它在可见光下催化降解罗丹明B降解反应活性增加.捕获剂实验结果表明,起决定性作用的活性物种是光生空穴,另外?OH也起了一定作用.     

Mesoscopic nanoshells: geometry-dependent plasmon resonances beyond the quasistatic limit

The plasmon response of a spherical metallic shell becomes significantly more complex as its size is increased beyond the quasistatic limit. With increasing size and decreasing aspect ratio (r1/r2), higher order multipolar modes contribute in a more dominant manner, and two distinct core-shell geometries exist that provide the same dipole plasmon resonance, with differing relative multipolar contributions in their overall spectral response. With further increase in particle size, the geometric tunability of the core-shell structure disappears, and in the infinite radius limit the plasmon response is consistent with that of a thin metallic film.     

Quantum mechanical study on plasmon resonances in small ring clusters

The collectivity of the electronic motion in small sodium clusters with ring structure is studied by time‐dependent density functional theory. The formation and development of collective resonances in the absorption spectra were obtained as a function of the ring radius. In small ring clusters, besides the lower‐energy mode and the higher‐energy mode, there is another plasmon resonance mode, that is, the reverse two‐dipole mode. For the reverse two‐dipole mode, the formations of these two dipoles are due to the external field inducement and the shielding effect, although the resonant excitation is mainly due to the coupling effect of the electrons of these two dipoles. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Surface plasmon spectroscopy of gold-poly-N-isopropylacrylamide core-shell particles

Highly uniform, core-shell microgels consisting of single gold nanoparticle cores and cross-linked poly-N-isopropylacrylamide (PNIPAM) shells were prepared by a novel, versatile protocol. The synthetic pathway allows control over the polymer shell thickness and its swelling behavior. The core-shell structure was investigated by electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy, whereas the swelling behavior of the shell was studied by means of dynamic light scattering and UV-vis spectroscopy. Furthermore, the latter method was used to investigate the optical properties of the hybrid particles. By modeling the scattering contribution from the PNIPAM shells, the absorption spectra of the gold nanoparticle cores could be recovered. This allows the particle concentration to be determined, and this in turn permits the calculation of the molar mass of the hybrid particles as well as the refractive index of the shells.     

Preparation and characterization of submicron hybrid magnetic latex particles

Micrometer magnetic hybrid particles are of great interest in biomedical field, and various morphologies have been prepared via encapsulation processes. Regarding submicron, only few processes have been investigated and the most recent one leading to highly magnetic submicron magnetic hybrid particles is based on oil in water magnetic emulsion (MES) transformation. The encapsulation of magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles forming oil in water MES was investigated using different styrene/cross‐linker divinylbenzene volume ratio in the presence of potassium persulfate initiator. The encapsulation performed in this work is basically conducted by using well‐defined oil in water MES as a seed in radical emulsion polymerization. The chemical composition, morphology, iron oxide content, magnetic properties, electrokinetic properties, particle size, and size distribution of the prepared magnetic hybrid particles were examined using various techniques. The desired perfect magnetic core and polymer shell morphology were successfully obtained, and the final magnetic hybrid particles are superparamagnetic in nature and exhibit high iron oxide content (64 wt %). Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.