Mechanically tunable surface plasmon resonance based on gold nanoparticles and elastic membrane polydimethylsiloxane composite

Abstract

Surface plasmon in nanoscaled materials has recently attracted a great deal of attention due to its possibility in a wide range of application. From a practical standpoint, it is desirable for the devices having a tunability of surface plasmon frequency. To achieve this goal, in this study, a composite consisting of two-dimensional gold nanoparticles array embedded in elastic polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) membrane has been synthesized. Because the elastic PDMS membrane has a high malleability, with an external stress, it is very easy to regulate the interparticle distance in the gold nanoparticle array. The change in the distance between each nanoparticle will alter the surface plasmon interaction, and hence surface plasmon frequency can be manipulated. It is found that when the interparticle distance increases, the enhanced surface plasma mutual coupling will cause the blueshift of surface plasmon resonance frequency. The observed result satisfies the forecast based on electromagnetic theory.