Interplay Between Near-Field Properties and Au Nanorod Cluster Structure: Extending Hot Spots for Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering

Abstract

Materials science has observed a continuous increase in the use of metal nanoparticles in a wide range of studies, from fundamental physics to technological applications such as photocatalysis and optical communication devices. This broad scope has the same fundamental origin, the localized surface plasmons, whose excitation leads to strong light confinement, especially in the vicinity of closely spaced nanoparticles, the hot spots. The field amplification may be used to amplify the Raman scattering of adsorbed molecules, which is known as surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS). A crucial and limiting characteristic of SERS hot spots is their very localized nature, that influences the SERS intensity reproducibility as well as the probabilities of observation of single-molecule SERS signals. In this paper we discuss the correlation between SERS performance and gold nanorod cluster structures using transmission electron microscopy, SERS spectra and numerical simulations. The experimental data showed interesting behavior for the combination of end-to-end and side-by-side interactions, revealing the possibility of creating strong hot spots with a more extended spatial distribution. The results give insights into the development of high-performance SERS substrates.

Gold Nanorods: The Most Versatile Plasmonic Nanoparticles

“…During the past decades, a plethora of studies have been conducted on SERS, ,− many of which are devoted to the increase of the SERS enhancement factor. The enhancement factors of as high as ∼10 6 have been realized in Au-NR-based SERS systems .…”

Enhanced Surface Fields Driven by Fano Resonances in Silver Nanocube Dimers for Efficient Hot Electron Generation

“…Fano-like resonances are observed in the spectral region that encompasses the P2, P3, and P4 plasmon resonances, indicating that the interaction between plasmon modes in this frequency range may lead to the observed interferences F1 and F2 (Figure ). To gain further insight into the plasmonic interactions underlying this effect, a three-coupled oscillator model can be employed. , This model extends the classical two-coupled harmonic oscillator model applied to study electromagnetic induced transparency (EIT) . In this context, the P2, P3, and P4 resonances are conceptualized as resulting from the hybridization of three coupled damped oscillators with eigenfrequencies ω 1 , ω 2 and ω 3 , where ω i = k i / m i .…”

“…To gain further insight into the plasmonic interactions underlying this effect, a three-coupled oscillator model can be employed. 41,42 This model extends the classical two-coupled harmonic oscillator model applied to study electromagnetic induced transparency (EIT). 43 In this context, the P2, P3, and P4 resonances are conceptualized as resulting from the hybridization of three coupled damped oscillators with eigenfrequencies ω 1 , ω 2 and ω 3 , where = k m / i i i .…”