Continuous tuning of the plasmon resonance frequency of porous gold nanoparticles by mixed oxide layers

Abstract

Porous gold nanoparticles (PGNs) are very popular due to their high surface/volume ratio, moreover they have stronger plasmonic properties than their solid counterparts. These properties make the porous gold nanoparticles very useful for lots of applications, for instance chemical sensors, cancer therapy applications. For applications, however, it is indispensable that the resonance frequency (RF) of a plasmonic structure to be tuneable. In this work we show that the RF can be set in a wide range as desired by coating the PGNs by mixed oxide layers. By changing the composition of the coating layer, that is the mixture ratio, the RF can be shifted practically continuously in a wide range determined by the refractive index of the used oxides. As a demonstration, PGNs were coated with mixed alumina-titania oxide layers (5–7 nm) using plasma-enhanced atomic layer deposition method. The oxide layer, beside as a tuning tool, also stabilises the structure of the PGNs when are exposed to elevated temperature. This is shown by the influence of the temperature (from 350, ^{circ }hbox {C} up to 900, ^{circ }hbox {C}) on the morphology, and as a consequence the optical extinction spectra, of the oxide coated PGNs.