Atomically thin two-dimensional (2D) transition metal dichalcogenides have also attracted immense interest because they exhibit appealing electronic, optical and mechanical properties. In this work, we prepared gold nanoparticle-decorated molybdenum sulfide (AuNP@MoS2) through a simple spontaneous redox reaction. Transmission electron microscopy, UV-Vis spectroscopy, and Raman spectroscopy were...

The detection of DNA using nanoparticles as labels is an interesting alternative to the standard fluorescence technique. It requires simpler detection equipment, resulting in higher stability and lower costs. Besides easier detection, metal enhancement allows a higher sensitivity of detection. The signal-response curve for labelled DNA before and after silver enhancement was studied, applying b...

The properties of liquid-crystalline (LC) hybrid systems made of inorganic nanoparticles grafted with photosensitive azo compounds are presented. For materials with a large density of azo ligands at the surface, the LC structure can be reversibly melted by UV light, and the return to the LC state does not require the absorption of visible light. For systems with a lower density of azo ligands, ...

We discuss a plasmonic coupling device consisting of a periodic array of ellipsoidal silver nanoparticles embedded in SiO2 and placed near a silver surface. By tuning the shape of the particles in the array, the nanoparticle plasmon resonance is tuned. The resulting resonantly enhanced fields near the nanoparticles, in turn, excite surface plasmons on the metal film. We have performed finite in...

Plasmon-driven surface catalytic (PDSC) reaction in Ag/Au nanoparticle monomer or dimer-film gaps are experimentally and theoretically investigated, using surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) and finite element method. The variation of SERS spectra in different nano gaps of nanoparticle-film systems indicated the PDSC reaction was largely depended on the number of nanoparticles. The higher ...

Graphene covered metal nanoparticles constitute a novel type of hybrid material, which provides a unique platform to study plasmonic effects, surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS), and metal-graphene interactions at the nanoscale. Such a hybrid material is fabricated by transferring graphene grown by chemical vapor deposition onto closely spaced gold nanoparticles produced on a silica wafer....

A new bottom-up approach for fabricating the optical metamaterial is reported. An array of metal nanoparticle clusters can provide both electric and magnetic activity in the optical frequency region through the excitation of the collective plasmon resonance. A two-dimensional square array of gold nanoparticle clusters (nanoclusters) was fabricated by using the template-directed colloidal self-a...

The bottom-up fabrication of ordered and oriented colloidal nanoparticle assemblies is critical for engineering functional nanomaterials beyond conventional polymer-particle composites. Here, we probe the influence of polymer surface ligands on the self-orientation of shaped metal nanoparticles for the formation of nanojunctions. We examine how polymer graft-surface interactions dictate Ag nano...

Nanoparticle metal oxides represent new classes of important materials that are increasingly being developed for use in research and health-related applications. Highly ionic metal oxides are interesting not only for their wide variety of physical and chemical properties but also for their antibacterial activity. Although the in vitro antibacterial activity and efficacy of regular zinc oxides h...

Amines are used extensively as reductants and subsequent capping agents in the synthesis of metal nanoparticles, especially gold, due to its affinity to nitrogen. Taking 2-methyl aniline as an example, we show that metal reduction is followed by polymerization of the amine, while part of it covers the nanoparticle surface another fraction deposits in the solution. It is found that the oxidative...