Growth of gold tips onto hyperbranched CdTe nanostructures

Light-controlled one-sided growth of large plasmonic gold domains on quantum rods observed on the single particle level

We create large gold domains (up to 15 nm) exclusively on one side of CdS or CdSe/CdS quantum rods by photoreduction of gold ions under anaerobic conditions. Electrons generated in the semiconductor by UV stimulation migrate to one tip where they reduce gold ions. Large gold domains eventually form; these support efficient plasmon oscillations with a light scattering cross section large enough to visualize single hybrid particles in a dark-field microscope during growth in real time.

Synthesis of Au-CdS@CdSe Hybrid Nanoparticles with a Highly Reactive Gold Domain.

We propose a novel route to synthesize semiconductor–gold hybrid nanoparticles directly in water, resulting in much larger gold domains than previous protocols (up to 50 nm) with very reactive surfaces which allow further functionalization. This method advances the possibility of self-assembly into complex structures with catalytic activity toward the reduction of nitro compounds by hydrides. The large size of these gold domains in hybrid particles supports efficient light scattering at the plasmon resonance frequency, making such structures attractive for single-particle studies.

Enhanced Thermal Stability of Gold and Silver Nanorods by Thin Surface Layers

Using in situ transmission electron microscopy, we find that a carbon shell governs the morphological transitions of gold and silver nanorods upon heating. Encapsulated Ag nanorods show a surprising nonuniform sublimation behavior starting from one side and leaving behind the shell. Uncovered gold nanorods transform their shape to spheres well below the bulk melting temperature through surface diffusion, which is prevented by a thin carbon shell.

Mapping the polarization pattern of plasmon modes reveals nanoparticle symmetry.

We study the wavelength and polarization dependent plasmon resonances of single silver and gold nanorods, triangles, cubes, and dimers with a novel single particle spectroscopy method (RotPOL). In RotPOL, a rotating wedge-shaped polarizer encodes the full polarization information of each particle within one image. This reveals the symmetry of the particles and their plasmon modes, allows analyzing inhomogeneous samples and the monitoring of particle shape changes during growth in situ.

Highly Sensitive plasmonic silver nanorods

We compare the single-particle plasmonic sensitivity of silver and gold nanorods with similar resonance wavelengths by monitoring the plasmon resonance shift upon changing the environment from water to 12.5% sucrose solution. We find that silver nanoparticles have 1.2 to 2 times higher sensitivity than gold, in good agreement with simulations based on the boundary-elements-method (BEM). To exclude the effect of particle volume on sensitivity, we test gold rods with increasing particle width at a given resonance wavelength. Using the Drude-model of optical properties of metals together with the quasi-static approximation (QSA) for localized surface plasmons, we show that the dominant contrib…

Plasmonic Focusing Reduces Ensemble Linewidth of Silver-Coated Gold Nanorods

Silver coating gold nanorods reduces the ensemble plasmon line width by changing the relation connecting particle shape and plasmon resonance wavelength. This change, we term "plasmonic focusing", leads to less variation of resonance wavelengths for the same particle size distribution. We also find smaller single particle linewidth comparing resonances at the same wavelength but show that this does not contribute to the ensemble linewidth narrowing.

Synthesis of rod-shaped gold nanorattles with improved plasmon sensitivity and catalytic activity.

We prepared rod-shaped gold nanorattles solid gold nanorods surrounded by a thin gold shell using a galvanic replacement process starting with silver-coated gold nanorods. These structures are very promising candidates for catalytic applications and optimized plasmon sensors. They combine the advantages of rods (low plasmon resonance frequency, large polarizability, small damping) with the high surface area of hollow structures. The plasmon sensitivity to changes in the dielectric environment is up to 50% higher for gold nanorattles compared to gold nanorods with the same resonance frequency and 6x higher than for plasmons in spherical gold nanoparticles. The catalytic activity measured for…

Probing the Size Effect of Co2FeGa-SiO2@C Nanocomposite Particles Prepared by a Chemical Approach

In this contribution, we report the chemical synthesis of carbon coated, silica supported Co2FeGa (Co2FeGa-SiO2@C) nanocomposite particles. The particle size of Co2FeGa particles can be tuned by varying the amount of silica supports. The dependences of the crystal structure and magnetic properties on particle size have been investigated by synchrotron radiation based X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray absorption fine structure (XAFS) spectroscopy, transmission electron microscope (TEM), 57Fe Mossbauer spectroscopy, and superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID). The superparamagnetic critical size of Co2FeGa Heusler nanoparticles is found to be ∼17 nm by correlating the TEM derived par…

Influence of temperature on the synthesis of thiol-stabilized CdTe nanoparticles in aqueous solutions

We have investigated the evolution of thiol-capped cadmium telluride nanocrystals prepared in aqueous solutions at low and room temperature followed by heating at 50–100 °C. The UV–visible absorption spectra, as well as transmission electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, and dynamic light scattering observations made it possible to reveal differences in size and structure originating from different heating temperatures. It was shown that minimization of the nucleation process temperature provided formation of larger nanoparticles than at higher temperatures.

Narrowing the Plasmonic Sensitivity Distribution by Considering the Individual Size of Gold Nanorods

The plasmonic nanoparticle sensitivity, sensing volume, and the signal-to-noise ratio are strongly dependent on the nanoparticle dimensions. It is difficult to chemically produce or purify nanoparticles with a size variation of less than 10%. This size variation induces a systematic error in sensing experiments that can be reduced when the exact size of each individual nanoparticle is known. In this work, we show how the size of gold nanorods can be estimated directly from the optical spectra of single nanoparticles by using the increase of radiation damping with the nanoparticle size. We verify our approach by comparing these spectrally estimated sizes with the precise sizes of exactly the…

Liquid crystalline phases from polymer functionalised semiconducting nanorods

The orientation of semiconducting nanomaterials is a hot topic in optoelectronic applications. Liquid crystallinity offers the potential to orient inorganic anisotropic nanorods, if they can be solubilised sufficiently as realised by polymer functionalisation. In this work we functionalised TiO2, SnO2, ZnO and CdTe nanorods with PMMA, PS and PDEGMEMA (poly(diethylene glycol monomethyl ether) methacrylate) diblock copolymers containing anchor groupsvia grafting-to. The block copolymers were synthesised by RAFT polymerisation (PDI ≈ 1.2) via reactive ester diblock copolymers, which were functionalised later with anchor units polymer-analogously. The surface coverage of the nanorods (determine…

Plasmonic Silver Nanorod Sensitivity: Experiment and Simple Theoretical Treatment

We compare the plasmonic sensitivity of silver and gold nanorods with similar resonance wavelengths by monitoring the plasmon resonance shift of single noble metal nanorods upon changing the environment from water to sucrose solution. We find that silver nanorods have 1.2 to 2 times higher sensitivity than gold in good agreement with simulations based on the boundary-elements-method (BEM). To exclude the effect of particle volume on sensitivity, we test gold rods with increasing particle width at a given resonance wavelength. Using the Drude-model of optical properties of metal together with the quasi-static approximation (QSA) for localized surface plas-mons, we show that the dominant cont…