Gold Nanoparticles in Photonic Crystals Applications: A Review

Abstract

This review concerns the recently emerged class of composite colloidal photonic crystals (PCs), in which gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) are included in the photonic structure. The use of composites allows achieving a strong modification of the optical properties of photonic crystals by involving the light scattering with electronic excitations of the gold component (surface plasmon resonance, SPR) realizing a combination of absorption bands with the diffraction resonances occurring in the body of the photonic crystals. Considering different preparations of composite plasmonic-photonic crystals, based on 3D-PCs in presence of AuNPs, different resonance phenomena determine the optical response of hybrid crystals leading to a broadly tunable functionality of these crystals. Several chemical methods for fabrication of opals and inverse opals are presented together with preparations of composites plasmonic-photonic crystals: the influence of SPR on the optical properties of PCs is also discussed. Main applications of this new class of composite materials are illustrated with the aim to offer the reader an overview of the recent advances in this field.

Fabrication of a Chemical Sensor Based on Surface Plasmon Resonance via Plastic Optical Fiber

“…In order to excite the surface plasmons, optical elements, such ashigh refractive index prism, optical fiber, and diffraction grating, are utilized [10]. SPR-based optical sensors are employed for different applications in life sciences, environmental safety, electrochemistry, biomedical diagnostics and chemical sciences [11]. In this work, the main purpose was to design and implement an optical fiber as a chemical sensor based on surface plasmon resonance.…”

Improving solar hydrogen production with photonic band gap materials

“…These results confirm the potential of IO materials as light harvesting catalysts for solar hydrogen production, arising from decreased electron/hole recombination rates and their ability to function at different orientations corresponding to different angular distributions of sunlight. Our future research will focus on the role of localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) in PBG materials with nanostructured Au layers, as the merits of combining PBG materials and LSPR is a current area of interest 10 and we have recently shown that LSPR can increase photocatalytic reaction rates. 11…”

Recent Advances in Plasmonic Sensor-Based Fiber Optic Probes for Biological Applications

“…[15]. Today, SPR-based optical sensors are employed for different applications in life sciences, electrochemistry, environmental safety, and biomedical diagnostics, as illustrated in Figure 1 [16,17]. SPR is a promising and powerful optical detection technique for studying label-free biomolecular interactions in real time within a variety of diverse biomedical applications due to the label-free sensing, fast response, and high sensitivity [18][19][20].…”