What is it about?

Assemblies of closely separated gold nanoparticles exhibit a strong collective plasmonic response due to coupling of the plasmon modes of the individual nanostructures. In the context of self-assembly of nanoparticles, close-packed two-dimensional (2D) clusters of spherical nanoparticles present an important composite system that promises numerous applications. The present study probes the collective plasmonic characteristics and resulting photothermal behavior of close-packed 2D Au nanoparticle clusters to delineate the effects of the cluster size, interparticle distance, and particle size. Smaller nanoparticles (20 and 40 nm in diameter) that exhibit low individual scattering and high absorption were considered for their relevance to photothermal applications. In contrast to typical literature studies, the present study compares the optical response of clusters of different sizes ranging from a single nanoparticle up to large assemblies of 61 nanoparticles. Increasing the cluster size induces significant changes to the spectral position and optophysical characteristics. Based on the model outcome, an optimal cluster size for maximum absorption per nanoparticle is also determined for enhanced photothermal effects. The effect of the particle size and interparticle distance is investigated to elucidate the nature of interaction in terms of near-field and far-field coupling. The photothermal effect resulting from absorption is compared for different cluster sizes and interparticle distances considering a homogeneous water medium. A strong dependence of the steady-state temperature of the nanoparticles on the cluster size, particle position in the cluster, incident light polarization, and interparticle distance provides new physical insight into the local temperature control of plasmonic nanostructures.

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Why is it important?

This study shows the variation of the plasmonic response of the individual particles in a large cluster. Thus, under high intensity irradiation, the temperature of nanoparticles vary significantly depending upon the position in the cluster. This work shows that the variability of the temperature with interparticle gap due to plasmonic coupling can be promising in nanoscale temperature control/sensing applications.

Perspectives

This work basically shows a phenomena that can be used for temperature control/sensing applications. Also, the variability of plasmonic effect in particles in large structure shown in this work is a new addition to the present literature.

Rituraj Borah
Universiteit Antwerpen

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This page is a summary of: Coupled Plasmon Modes in 2D Gold Nanoparticle Clusters and Their Effect on Local Temperature Control, The Journal of Physical Chemistry C, November 2019, American Chemical Society (ACS),
DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcc.9b09048.
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