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Self-assembly has the advantage of fabricating structures of complex functionalities, from molecular levels to as big as macroscopic levels. Natural self-assembly involves self-aggregation of one or more materials (organic and/or inorganic) into desired structures while templated self-assembly involves interstitial space filling of diverse nature entities into self-assembled ordered/disordered templates (both from molecular to macro levels). These artificial and engineered new-generation materials offer many advantages over their individual counterparts. This paper reviews and explores the advantages of such naturally self-assembled hybrid molecular level systems and template-assisted macro-/microstructures targeting simple and low-cost device-oriented fabrication techniques, structural flexibility, and a wide range of photonic applications.

Here, we report the photon-plasmon interaction scheme and enhanced field strengths resulted into the amplification of phonon in a novel microcavity. A metal-dielectric microcavity, with unified cavity photonic mode and localized surface plasmon resonances, is visualized by impregnating the gold nanoparticles into the deep see-through nano-sized pores of porous silicon microcavity. The intense optical field strengths resulting from the photon-plasmon interactions are probed by both resonant and non-resonant Raman scattering experiments. Due to photon-plasmon-phonon interaction mechanism, several orders of enhancement in the intensity of scattered Raman Stokes photon (at 500 cm−1) are observed. Our metal nanoparticle-microcavity hybrid system shows the potential to improve the sensing figure of merit as well as the applications of plasmonics for optoelectronics, photovoltaics, and related technologies.

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The fabrication of zinc oxide (ZnO) from inexpensive solution-processing techniques, namely, electrochemical deposition and electrospinning were explored on various conducting and mesoporous semiconducting surfaces. Optimised conditions were derived for template-and self-assisted nano/micro structures and composites. ZnO thin films were annealed at a fixed temperature under ambient conditions and characterised using physical and optical techniques. The photocurrent response in the UV region shows a fast rise and double decay behaviour with a fast component followed by a slow oscillatory decay. Photocurrent results were correlated with surface chemical analysis from X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Various characterisation details reveal the importance of fabrication parameter optimisation for useful low-cost optoelectronic applications.