Exploring thermoplasmonic profiles of some noble metallic nanospheres

Abstract

In the current study, we have described the photothermal effect of noble metal (Au, Ag, or Cu) nanospheres immersed in water (at ambient conditions) with the radius of nanospheres ranging from 10 nm to 50 nm. The theoretical simulation software MiePlot based on Mie’s theory is used to calculate the optical properties like absorption and scattering of light energy. In order to determine the heat generation by light energy absorption of nanospheres and temperature distribution by plasmonic nanospheres, we computed the steady using state heat transfer equation. The plasmonic nanoparticle have a property of surface plasmon resonance (SPR) that can be used to heat up the surrounding by absorbing maximum light from irradiated beam. Based on this, we calculated the absorption cross-section of noble metal nanosphere with various sizes. The surface plasmon resonance have been tuned from ultraviolet-visible (UV-vis) range by varying the size of these nanosphere. Since, the radius of the nanosphere had a significant impact on the temperature and the maximum temperature increase inside the nanoparticle is associated with its absorption cross-section. These theoretical studies seek to advance our fundamental knowledge of the heating process by plasmonic nano-heaters in UV-vis region, which has numerous practical uses. • The SPR for noble metals is tuned from Ultraviolet-visible range by varying the size of nanosphere. • The maximum absorption for Au, Ag, and Cu noble metals nanospheres is perceived at the wavelength of 543 nm, 390 nm, and 582 nm, respectively. • The temperature profiles of noble metal nanospheres with varying wavelength are reported. • The maximum temperature increase is found inside the nanosphere for different radii in the presence of water (n = 1.33) as surrounding medium.