The field of nanoparticle (NP) sizing encompasses a wide array of techniques, with electron microscopy and dynamic light scattering (DLS) having become the established methods for NP quantification; however, these techniques are not always applicable. A new and rapidly developing method that addresses the limitations of these techniques is the electrochemical detection of NPs in solution. The '...

A fast, economical, and reproducible method for nanoparticle synthesis has been developed in our laboratory. The reaction is performed in an aqueous environment and utilizes light emitted by commercially available 1 W light-emitting diodes (λ =420 nm) as the catalyst. This method does not require nanoparticle seeds or toxic chemicals. The irradiation process is carried out for a period of up to...

Supported metal nanoparticle catalysts are commonly obtained through deposition of metal precursors onto the support using incipient wetness impregnation. Typically, empirical relations between metal nanoparticle structure and catalytic performance are inferred from ensemble averaged data in combination with high-resolution electron microscopy. This approach clearly underestimates the importanc...

In this paper, we propose a novel microfluidic tunable metamaterial (MM) absorber printed on a paper substrate in silver nanoparticle ink. The metamaterial is designed using a periodic array consisting of square patches. The conductive patterns are inkjet-printed on paper using silver nanoparticle inks. The microfluidic channels are laser-etched on polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA). The conductive...

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...

A novel wide-field approach for the real-time Surface Enhanced Raman Scattering (SERS) imaging of multiple silver nanoparticle clusters suspended in solution is described. This method enables direct correlation of the SERS activity of a single nanoparticle aggregate and its size through measurement of the cluster diffusion coefficient and can also be performed in a high-throughput basis. As a f...

Bioconjugates of the hemoproteins, myoglobin, and hemoglobin have been synthesized by their adsorption on spherical gold and silver nanoparticles and gold nanorods. The adsorption of hemoproteins on the nanoparticle surface was confirmed by their molecular ion signatures in matrix assisted laser desorption ionization mass spectrometry and specific Raman features of the prosthetic heme b units. ...

Plasmonic resonances in metallic nanoparticles have been used since antiquity to colour glasses. The use of metal nanostructures for surface colourization has attracted considerable interest following recent developments in plasmonics. However, current top-down colourization methods are not ideally suited to large-scale industrial applications. Here we use a bottom-up approach where picosecond ...

A silver nanoparticle-modified evanescent field optical fiber sensor based on a MEMS microchannel chip has been successfully fabricated. Experimental results show that the sensor response decreases linearly with increasing concentration of analyte. Over a range of methylene blue concentrations from 0 to 0.4 μmol/mL, the sensor response is linear (R = 0.9496). A concentration variation of 0.1 μm...

One dimensional metal nanostructures with the capability of guiding electromagnetic energy are attractive for nanoscale optical devices and circuits. These nanostructures can be also excellent candidates for Raman markers that exploit surfaceenhanced Raman scattering (SERS) phenomena. Onedimensional nanostructures show promising capabilities for guiding and confining the exciting light in nanog...