Metal nanoparticles in the size range of few to hundred nanometers possess phenomenal physical and chemical properties. It is well known that i.e. chemical inert bulk gold becomes a surprisingly good catalyst when smaller than 10 nm. Strong spatial confinement of surface plasmon polaritons propagating between the metal-dielectric interface have unique optical properties and generate high electromagnetic fields at edges or between particles, leading to applications like SERS (surface enhanced raman spectroscopy). Besides many useful applications metal nanoparticles are of particular interest because of their ease of synthesis and the variety of shapes and surface modifications, which alter the chemical and physical properties. We focus on the synthesis of gold and silver nanoparticles with different shapes because of their absorption in the range of visible light. These nanoparticles can afterwards be modified to produce hybrid core-shell structures with different approaches. Dye molecules and quantum dots can be attached in-situ or by post-treatment into silica or polymer shells to study their optoelectronic properties. Useful effects when emitter and acceptor are spatially and spectrally overlapping can be quenching or enhancement of the fluorescence or stimulated emission. Besides optical properties of particles in solution we also investigate single particles by a setup that is equipped with a confocal microscope with single molecule sensitivity where the nanoparticles can be identified and manipulated by an atomic force microscope at the same time [1].[1] S. Wu et al., Colloid Polym Sci 291 , 585 (2013).

Hybrid colloidal structures based on plasmonic metal nanoparticles

248th National Meeting (2014)

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