Abstract

In this contribution, we report on the simulation of optical reflectance and transmittance (R&T) taken on a set of gold nanoparticles thin film, deposited on sodium alginate by magnetron sputtering. The gold layer is very thin, so that the films are not continuous and the material is arranged in nanostructured layers. R&T spectra are simulated using the Generalized Transfer Matrix method applied to the film-on-substrate model. The gold NP films are simulated using the Drude-Lorentz model, by taking into account that the optical function of nanostructured gold exhibits increased collision frequency and reduced relaxation time. Moreover, the signal of localized surface plasmon, evident in the spectra, is simulated by introducing a dedicated modified Lorentz oscillator. The experimental results are well reproduced by the applied model. All trends (amplitude and energy position of the plasmon oscillator, film thickness, relaxation time) are correlated with the deposition parameters. The procedure represents a useful tool in the characterisation of such nanoparticles thin films.

Highlights

  • We report on the simulation of optical reflectance and transmittance (R&T) taken on a set of gold nanoparticles thin film, deposited on sodium alginate by magnetron sputtering

  • Both occurrences are due to the presence of the additional absorption signal, which can be attributed to the onset of a localized surface plasmon [5, 6]

  • The optical properties of very thin films of gold NP deposited by sputtering on Sodium alginate (SA) substrates have been studied by means of simulation of optical properties

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Summary

Introduction

Fabrication of thin conductive films on polymers is an important research field for the generation of devices, where flexibility and lightweight are two main properties for the fabrication of wearable electronics and soft robotics. Dispersion of the nanoparticle shape and size, and how these occurrences reflect on the optical spectra, are all argument of interest. The ability of performing quantitative simulation of experimental optical spectra is an important tool to detect the details of the growing material at the nanoscale. We report the optical properties of a set of several gold NP thin films on SA in the range 250-1100 nm, identify specific features, perform quantitative simulations, and show the trend of optical parameters

Experimentals
Optical simulation
Results and discussion
Summary and conclusions

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