Abstract
The surface plasmon resonance (SPR) optical absorption of Ag nanoparticles loaded in mesoporous SiO2 (with fairly low Ag content, about 0.14 wt %) have been investigated after the nanoparticles were heated in or exposed to various atmospheres (i.e., air, H2, water vapor, Ar, and H2S). Unexpectedly, the SPR optical absorption can completely disappear in quite a short time or intensively emerge or drastically change into semiconductor optical absorption edge. Surprisingly, the SPR switches are well reversible and very rapid when alternating treatment of samples in any two atmospheres mentioned above. In addition, those novel and distinctive SPR changes reflect a series of abnormal chemical redox behaviors in various atmospheres. The mechanisms have been discussed based on modeling multi-interactions between the mesoporous SiO2 matrix, Ag nanoparticles, and atmospheres, revealing a special surface/interface synergetic effect that induces many novel phenomena despite SiO2 usually being regarded as a chemical ...
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