We demonstrate that Au nanoparticles with tipped surface structures, such as concave nanocubes, nanotrisoctahedra, and nanostars, possess size-dependent tunable plasmon resonances and intense near-field enhancements exploitable for single-particle surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (spSERS) under near-infrared excitation. We report a robust seed-mediated growth method for the selective fabrica...

Recently dark-field microscopy and Rayleigh scattering spectroscopy have emerged as complementary technologies for ultrasensitive biological detection and imaging with high spatial and temporal resolution. Plasmonic resonant nanoparticles are key nano-scale probes for these technologies that have enabled single-molecule sensitivity and imaging. In this tutorial review, we focus on the use of pl...

Nanoscale surface corrugation strongly determines the plasmonic response of gold nanoparticles with dimensions of several tens of nanometres. Scattering spectra of individual spheres with a rough surface were found to red-shift and broaden. The plasmon modes exhibited quadrupole damping, in contrast to particles with smooth surfaces. Additionally, rougher spheres display a higher SERS activity,...

In this work, atomic force microscopy probes are functionalized by virtue of self-assembling monolayers of block copolymer (BCP) micelles loaded either with clusters of silver nanoparticles or bimetallic heterostructures consisting of mixed species of silver and gold nanoparticles. The resulting self-organized patterns allow coating the tips with a sort of nanometal skin made of geometrically c...

This paper presents an ultrasensitive fluorescent detection method through fabricating a silver microarray substrate. Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) and Ag@Au core-shell nanoparticles with different sizes were first synthesized by a seed-mediated growth method and the metal-enhanced fluorescence of these nanoparticles on different fluorescent dyes was investigated. The results indicated that AgNP...

Interaction of photons with matter at length scales far below their wavelengths has given rise to many novel phenomena, including localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR). However, LSPR with narrow bandwidth (BW) is observed only in a select few noble metals, and ferromagnets are not among them. Here, we report the discovery of LSPR in ferromagnetic Co and CoFe alloy (8% Fe) in contact with A...

Magnetic-plasmonic core-shell nanomaterials offer a wide range of applications across science, engineering and biomedical disciplines. However, the ability to synthesize and understand magnetic-plasmonic core-shell nanoparticles with tunable sizes and shapes remains very limited. This work reports experimental and computational studies on the synthesis and properties of iron oxide-gold core-she...

This report investigates the enhancement of localized evaporation via separated light absorbing particles (plasmonic absorbers) and scattering particles (polystyrene nanoparticles). Evaporation has been considered as one of the most important phase-change processes in modern industries. To improve the efficiency of evaporation, one of the most feasible methods is to localize heat at the top wat...

Magneto-plasmonic microcapsules were prepared by the assembly of gold and γ-Fe(2)O(3) magnetic nanoparticles at the oil-water interface of microdroplets generated in a microfluidic device.