Directed self-assembly of gold nanoparticles into plasmonic chains.

The plasmonic behavior of metals at the nanoscale is not only appealing for fundamental studies, but also very useful for the development of innovative photonic devices. The past few decades have witnessed great progress in colloidal synthesis of monodisperse metal nanoparticles with defined shapes. This has significantly fueled up the research of directing the metal nanoparticles to self-assemble into tailored extended structures, especially low dimensional ones, for a better control and manipulation of the interactions of the metal nanoparticles with light. In parallel, theories for a better description of nanoplasmonics have been increasingly developed and improved. Thus, the present review is focused on the overview of current experimental and theoretical developments in the directed self-assembly of metal nanoparticles with tailored plasmonic properties, which, hopefully, will provide useful guidelines for future research studies and applications of nanoplasmonics.

High yield seedless synthesis of high-quality gold nanocrystals with various shapes.

In this Article, high-quality gold nanocrystals (Au NCs) with various shapes including concave cubic, trisoctahedral, cubic, rod-like, and quasi-spherical have been successfully produced in high yield via adding a trace amount of NaBH4 solution into growth solutions mainly composed of HAuCl4, ascorbic acid, and surfactants. The sizes and shapes of as-prepared Au NCs can be tuned by the compositions of the growth solutions and the amount of NaBH4 added. The electrocatalytic performance of differently shaped Au NCs for methanol oxidation was studied; as-prepared trisoctahedral or concave cubic Au NCs are more highly active electrocatalysts for methanol oxidation due to the presence of high-index facets on their surface.

High Yield Seedless Synthesis of Uniform Silver Nanoparticles with Different Sizes.

Currently, seed-mediated growth method is the dominant strategy for synthesis of silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) with different sizes. However, it is complicated for the researchers with limited chemistry-training. In this work, monodisperse, quasi-spherical Ag NPs with different sizes were successfully produced in high yield by adding a trace amount of NaBH4 solution into the mixtures of AgNO3, ascorbic acid and cetyltrimethylammonium chloride (CTAC) as surfactants. It was found that the sizes of as-prepared Ag NPs can be tuned from 20 nm to 50 nm by adjusting the NaBH4 concentration at optimal pH (about 6.33) and CTAC concentration (0.02-0.06 M). The surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) activity of 50 nm Ag NPs shows an enhanced enhancement factor for 4-aminothiophenol (4-ATP) molecules (2.5 x 10(7) for a(1) mode). Moreover, Raman signals (a(g) mode) of 4,4'-dimercaptoazobenzene (DMAB) molecules were also observed due to the laser-induced transformation of 4-ATP molecules on the surfaces of 50 nm Ag NPs during SERS measurement. Furthermore, the transformation of probe molecules on the surfaces of metal NPs during SERS measurement have to be considered.