Gold Nanoisland Films Research Articles

Patterning colloids with microbubbles

Surface Assembly A laser-based method can create arbitrary patterns of nanoparticles and colloids on plasmonic substrates with photothermally generated microbubbles. Lin et al. generated microbubbles in colloidal suspensions at low laser powers, using a plasmonic surface (a quasi-continuous gold nano-island film) that had its resonance tuned to the laser wavelength of 532 nm. The microbubbles captured and immobilized particles through Marangoni convection around the bubble, surface tension, gas pressure, and substrate adhesion. They patterned polystyrene nanoparticles (∼60 nm) and beads (∼0.5 to 5 µm) as well as 6-nm cadmium selenide-zinc sulfide core-shell nanoparticles. Nano Lett. 5 , 10.1021/acs.nanolett.5b04524 (2015).

Photoluminescence decay rate of silicon nanoparticles modified with gold nanoislands

We investigated plasmon-assisted enhancement of emission from silicon nanoparticles (ncs-Si) embedded into porous SiO x matrix in the 500- to 820-nm wavelength range. In the presence in the near-surface region of gold nanoisland film, ncs-Si exhibited up to twofold luminescence enhancement at emission frequencies that correspond to the plasmon resonance frequency of Au nanoparticles. Enhancement of the photoluminescence (PL) intensity was attributed to coupling with the localized surface plasmons (LSPs) excited in Au nanoparticles and to increase in the radiative decay rate of ncs-Si. It has been shown that spontaneous emission decay rate of ncs-Si modified by thin Au film over the wide emission spectral range was accelerated. The emission decay rate distribution was determined by fitting the experimental decay curves to the stretched exponential model. The observed increase of the PL decay rate distribution width for the Au-coated nc-Si-SiO x sample in comparison with the uncoated one was explained by fluctuations in the surface-plasmon excitation rate.PACS78. 67. Bf; 78.55.-m

Surface enhanced absorption and transmission from dye coated gold nanoparticles in thin films

Absorption spectra of gold nanoisland thin film and the composite film of gold having thin coating of Methylene Blue and Rh6G dyes have been studied. Thin gold nanoisland film shows surface plasmon resonance (SPR) peak in the visible wavelength range, which shifts to near infrared with an increase in the thickness of the film. It was found that thin film of gold consists of nanoparticles of different size and shape, particularly nanorods of noncylindrical shapes. A linear relation was found between SPR peak wavelength and the aspect ratio of the nanoparticles in gold thin film. Effective medium refractive index of the gold film is estimated to be ~2.5, which decreases with an increase in film thickness. The coating of dyes on gold films splits the SPR peak with an enhanced absorption. Enhancement in absorption of composite film is maximal when the dye absorption peak coincides with the SPR peak; otherwise enhancement in transmission is observed for all the wavelength range. Absorption amplitude of composite film peaks increase with an increase in the gold film thickness, which tend toward saturation for film thickness of ≥6 nm. A correlation shows that absorption spectra can be described by the Maxwell Garnett theory, when the gold nanoparticles have a nearly spherical shape for very thin film (≤6 nm).

Electrochemical Sensor to Detect Neurotransmitter Using Gold Nano-Island Coated ITO Electrode

Parkinson disease is a chronic neurodegenerative disorder characterized by the loss of dopamine, which is a neurotransmitter in the substantia nigra. In this study, a simple, rapid and inexpensive method to fabricate gold nano-island film (GNIF) coated ITO electrode has been developed based on electrochemical deposition of Au onto ITO substrate. The nanostructured film surface was characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Cyclic voltammetry (CV) and differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) were used to evaluate the electrochemical behavior of induvidul dopamine and uric acid solution were studied. Moreover, GNIF/ITO electrode was applied to detecte DA in the presence of Bovine Serum Albumin (50 microM) as an interference. These results demonstrate that, interfering component has no effect on the determination of DA at GNIF electrode, hence this GNIF electrode is suitable for the determination of DA with high sensitivity and selectivity. Then, GNIF coated ITO electrode was applied to monitor the electrochemical simultaneous detection of dopamine and uric acid mixtures based on CV and DPV with high sensitivity. GNIF-modified ITO electrode showed a linear range for the determination of dopamine concentration from 0.1 microM to 40 microM in the presence of 50 microM of uric acid. Based on these results, the proposed technique can be a promising method to construct a highly sensitive biosensor as well as highly efficient protein chip.

Stability and Morphology of Gold Nanoisland Arrays Generated from Layer-by-Layer Assembled Nanoparticle Multilayer Films: Effects of Heating Temperature and Particle Size

This article reports the effects of heating temperature and composition of nanoparticle multilayer films on the morphology, stability, and optical property of gold nanoisland films prepared by nanoparticle self-assembly/heating method. First, nanoparticle-polymer multilayer films are prepared by the layer-by-layer assembly. Nanoparticle multilayer films are then heated at temperature ranging from 500 °C to 625 °C in air to induce an evaporation of organic matters from the films. During the heating process, the nanoparticles on the solid surface undergo coalescence, resulting in the formation of nanostructured gold island arrays. Characterization of nanoisland films using atomic force microscopy and UV-vis spectroscopy suggests that the morphology and stability of gold island films change when different heating temperatures are applied. Stable gold nanoisland thin film arrays can only be obtained after heat treatments at or above 575 °C. In addition, the results show that the use of nanoparticles with different sizes produces nanoisland films with different morphologies. Multilayer films containing smaller gold nanoparticles tend to produce more monodisperse and smaller island nanostructures. Other variables such as capping ligands around nanoparticles and molecular weight of polymer linkers are found to have only minimal effects on the structure of island films. The adsorption of streptavidin on the biotin-functionalized nanoisland films is studied for examining the biosensing capability of nanoisland arrays.

Surface-enhanced fluorescence and surface-enhanced Raman scattering of push–pull molecules: sulfur-functionalized 4-amino-7-nitrobenzofurazan adsorbed on Ag and Au nanostructured substrates

We investigated the chemisorption of self-assembled monolayers of sulfur-functionalized 4-amino-7-nitrobenzofurazan on gold and silver nanoisland films (NIFs) by means of surface-enhanced fluorescence (SEF) and surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS). The ligand is a push-pull molecule, where an intramolecular charge transfer occurs between an electron-donor and an electron-acceptor group, thus exhibiting nonlinear optical properties that are related to both SERS and SEF effects. The presence of different heteroatoms in the molecule ensures the possibility of chemical interaction with both silver and gold substrates. The SERS spectra suggest that furazan is bound to silver via lone pairs of the nitrogen atoms, whereas the ligand is linked to gold via a sulfur atom. Silver NIFs provide more efficient enhancement of both fluorescence and Raman scattering in comparison with gold NIFs. The present SEF and SERS investigation could provide useful information for foreseeing changes in the nonlinear responses of this push-pull molecule.

Sensitivity and Optimization of Localized Surface Plasmon Resonance Transducers

Gold nanoisland films displaying localized surface plasmon resonance optical response were constructed by evaporation on glass and annealing. The surface plasmon distance sensitivity and refractive index sensitivity (RIS) for island films of different nominal thicknesses and morphologies were investigated using layer-by-layer polyelectrolyte multilayer assembly. Since the polymer forms a conformal coating on the Au islands and the glass substrate between islands, the relative sensitivity of the optical response to adsorption on and between islands was evaluated. The RIS was also determined independently using a series of solvents. An apparent discrepancy between the behavior of the RIS for wavelength shift and intensity change is resolved by considering the different physical nature of the two quantities, leading to the use of a new variable, that is, RIS (for intensity change) normalized to the surface density of islands. In the present system the surface plasmon decay length and RIS are shown to be directly correlated; both parameters increase with increasing average island size. This result implies that a higher RIS is not always beneficial for sensing; maximizing the transducer optical response requires the interrelated RIS and decay length to be optimized with respect to the dimensions of the studied analyte-receptor system. It is shown that, as a rule, transducers comprising larger islands furnish better overall sensitivity for thicker adlayers, whereas thinner adlayers produce a larger response when sensed using transducers comprising smaller islands, despite the lower RIS of the latter.

Preparation of Gold Nanoisland Arrays from Layer-by-Layer Assembled Nanoparticle Multilayer Films

o C in air to evaporate organic matters from the films. During the annealing process, the nano- particles on the solid surface undergo nucleation and coalescence, resulting in the formation of nanostructured gold island arrays. By controlling the overall thickness (number of layers) of nanoparticle multilayer films, nanoisland films with various island density and different average sizes are obtained. The surface property of gold nanoisland films is further controlled by the self-assembly of alkanethiols, which results in an increased surface hydrophobicity of the films. The structure and characteristics of these nanoisland film arrays are found to be quite comparable to those of nano- island films prepared by vacuum evaporation method. However, this self-assembly/annealing protocol is simple and requires only common laboratory supplies and equipment for the entire preparation process.

Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) with a donor–acceptor system adsorbed on silver or gold nanoisland films

We observed Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) with a covalently linked donor-acceptor pair D-A consisting of two naphthalene groups acting as the donors and a benzofurazan group acting as the acceptor and adsorbed onto Ag or Au nanoisland films. The use of metal nanoisland films, which caused a strong enhancement of the Raman signal, permitted description of the adsorption mechanism onto the two metals. The intense fluorescence response of molecular adsorbates and the different behavior of the antenna on Ag and Au nanoislands are partly explained in terms of the radiating plasmon model.

Absorption spectroscopy of gold nanoisland films: optical and structural characterization

Nanoisland films prepared by annealing thin gold films at high temperatureswere imaged using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic forcemicroscopy, and optically characterized through absorption spectroscopy. Thingold films of effective thicknesses 2, 5 and 7 nm annealed at 500, 700 and900 °C were fabricated and studied experimentally. The measured absorption characteristics insupport of theoretical calculations showed that the shapes of gold islands werepartial spheres. The position of the peak absorption wavelength measured withs-polarized light or at normal incidence confirmed that the island shape grew from anear-hemisphere towards a sphere with increasing annealing temperature. The SEMimages confirmed that the size of islands increased from 15 nm in diameter to40 nm in diameter as film thickness increased from 2 to 5 nm. The affect of theindex of the substrate material on absorption characteristics were also studied bycomparing the absorption spectra of gold island films on quartz and LaSF15 glasssubstrates. The use of gold nanoisland films for preparing localized surface plasmonresonance substrates was suggested as they held advantages over the gold colloidfilms.