Abstract
Silver (Ag) nanoclusters embedded in soda lime glass were synthesized by Ag ion exchange followed by thermal annealing. The effects of annealing temperature, time and atmosphere on the plasmonic response, structural and optical properties of silver-glass nanocomposites have been investigated using UV–visible absorption spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). As exchanged sample exhibits surface plasmon resonance (SPR) band around 420nm which showed regular red shift with increase in annealing temperature. A significant red shift of 176nm (from 420 to 596nm) and broadening of the SPR peak was observed for annealing in air at 450°C. XPS studies on air annealed samples confirmed the presence of Ag2O in addition to Ag. Subsequent annealing at 250°C in reducing atmosphere resulted in increase in intensity, narrowing and blue shift of the SPR peak to 398nm. Our observations suggest that SPR tunability is mainly due to the formation and dissolution of Ag2O nanoshells around Ag nanoclusters in the near-surface region of glass during annealing in oxidizing and reducing atmosphere, respectively.
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