Utilization of hybrid plasmonic modes to investigate surface interactions between nanocubes and polymer substrates

Abstract

Silver nanocube monolayers deposited on polymer films were heated past the glass transition temperature of the polymer. Surface interactions between the cubes and substrate dictate the depth and rate of incorporation into the polymer. Silver nanocubes support hybrid plasmonic modes that are spatially separated when there is anisotropy in the local refractive index. Using this measure, it becomes possible to monitor the position of the cubes relative to the surface and tune spectral features in the visible spectrum. These spatially resolved plasmonic modes were used to probe the local glass transition temperature of polystyrene (PS), polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC), the glass transition temperature of PS, PMMA, PVC were 103 ± 2, 122 ± 12, 81 ± 2 °C, respectively.