Nanoengineering of conductively coupled metallic nanoparticles towards selective resonance modes within the near-infrared regime.

In this work, the mode transition effect of different plasmonic resonances in linked dimers by a conductive junction is numerically investigated.Without the junction, the dimer supports a single dipolar bonding plasmon mode, while two new resonance modes, a screened bonding dipolar mode and a low energy charge transfer plasmon mode, emerge when two nanoparticles are linked via a bridge. Such effect is proved to be unrelated to the shape of the nanoparticles, whether sphere, core-shell or nanoegg. However, it was found that the status of each specific resonance mode is profoundly influenced by the shape of nanoparticles. Furthermore, a detailed discussion of mechanisms of controlling plasmon modes, specially charge transfer mode, and tuning their corresponding spectra in bridged nanoparticles as functions of nanoparticle parameters and junction conductance is presented. These results show that the optical response of the dimer is highly sensitive to changes in the inter-particle gap. While the capacitive dimer provides a strong hotstop, the conductive dimer leads to highly controllable low energy plasmon mode at the mid-infrared region appropriate for novel applications. These findings may serve as an important guide for optical properties of linked nanoparticles as well as understanding the transition between the capacitive and conductive coupling.

A rational design of multimodal asymmetric nanoshells as efficient tunable absorbers within the biological optical window.

In this work, the optical properties of asymmetric nanoshells with different geometries are comprehensively investigated in the quasi-static regime by applying the dipolar model and effective medium theory. The plasmonic behaviors of these nanostructures are explained by the plasmon hybridization model. Asymmetric hybrid nanoshells, composed of off-center core or nanorod core surrounded by a spherical metallic shell layer possess highly geometrically tunable optical resonances in the near-infrared regime. The plasmon modes of this nanostructures arise from the hybridization of the cavity and solid plasmon modes at the inner and outer surfaces of the shell. The results reveal that the symmetry breaking drastically affects the strength of hybridization between plasmon modes, which ultimately affects the absorption spectrum by altering the number of resonance modes, their wavelengths and absorption efficiencies. Therefore, offsetting the spherical core as well as changing the internal geometry of the nanoparticle to nanorod not only shift the resonance frequencies but can also strongly modify the relative magnitudes of the absorption efficiencies. Furthermore, higher order multipolar plasmon modes can appear in the spectrum of asymmetric nanoshell, especially in nanoegg configuration. The results also indicate that the strength of hybridization strongly depends on the metal of shell, material of core and the filling factor. Using Au-Ag alloy as a material of the shell can provide red-shifted narrow resonance peak in the near-infrared regime by combining the specific features of gold and silver. Moreover, inserting a high permittivity core in a nanoshell corresponds to a red-shift, while a core with small dielectric constant results in a blue-shift of spectrum. We envision that this research offers a novel perspective and provides a practical guideline in the fabrication of efficient tunable absorbers in the nanoscale regime.

An optimal architecture of magneto-plasmonic core-shell nanoparticles for potential photothermal applications.

In this work, the optical responses of Fe3O4@Au and Fe3O4@Ag are comprehensively investigated using the discrete dipole approximation. It is found that the resonance wavelength and absorption efficiency strongly depend on the composition of the core and shell, geometry of the nanoparticles, core to particle volume ratio, core radius and shell thickness. The strongest impact is due to the shell material, the shape of the nanoparticles and their combination. When the composition of the shell is changed from gold to silver, instead of one fundamental resonance peak the absorption spectrum shows two, corresponding to the bonding plasmon mode at the nanoparticle-environment interface and antibonding mode at the core-shell interface. The results also reveal a much higher tunability of the resonance wavelength as well as larger enhancement of the absorption efficiency as the spherical nanoparticle stretches to a prolate ellipsoidal shape. Furthermore, higher order plasmon modes appear in the absorption spectrum of prolate nanoparticles with a large aspect ratio. The existence of several plasmon modes together with wide tunability makes these nanoparticles good candidates for applications where two or more simultaneous absorption bands at different frequencies are required. These results might motivate experimentalists to optimize the synthesis of magnetic-plasmonic core-shell NPs in different applications as far as absorption is concerned.

Influence of liquid density variation on the bubble and gas dynamics of a single acoustic cavitation bubble.

The effects of liquid density variation at the bubble surface on the dynamics of a single acoustic cavitation bubble are numerically studied. The Gilmore model together with a comprehensive hydrochemical model is used. The evaporation and condensation of water vapor are included in the hydrochemical model. The simulation results are compared to those resulting from the widely known Keller-Miksis model, which assumes a constant liquid density at the bubble surface. The numerical results for a single argon bubble in water reveal that the pressure and the temperature inside the bubble in collapse phase significantly increase, when the non-constant liquid density is used. These differences increase by raising the ultrasonic amplitude and by decreasing the bubble ambient radius and ultrasonic frequency. More importantly, at higher ultrasonic frequencies, the models give the same results regarding the cavitation dynamics and much more remarkably on the thermodynamic behavior of the bubble contents. Also, it is revealed that the entered number of water vapor molecules into the bubble in expansion phase through evaporation are less than the simulated one by the diffusion limited model. Notably, in the case of an argon bubble in aqueous solution of H2SO4(85wt%), a better match between the results of two models is observed. In addition, it is shown that considering the liquid bulk viscosity, arising from the rapid liquid density variation at the end of bubble collapse, in the Gilmore model leads to a slight growth in the collapse strength, temperature, and pressure within the bubble.

How important is the liquid bulk viscosity effect on the dynamics of a single cavitation bubble?

The influence of liquid bulk viscosity on the dynamics of a single cavitation bubble is numerically studied via Gilmore model with a new modified boundary condition at bubble interface. In order to more accurately describe the interior gas thermodynamics, a hydrochemical model is used. The numerical results for an argon bubble in water and aqueous H2SO4 show that including the liquid bulk viscosity slightly affects the bubble dynamics in collapse phase. This effect becomes significant only at high ultrasonic amplitudes and high viscosities. Moreover, the maximum pressure value inside the bubble is much more influenced than the maximum temperature. This finding lends support to results of Shen et al. [25] and significantly differ from some previous results reported in the literature.

Possibility of methane conversion into heavier hydrocarbons using nanosecond lasers.

Effect of nanosecond lasers on the methane dissociation is experimentally studied by using three different laser wavelengths at 248 nm, 355 nm and 532 nm. C2H2 generation is measured as a major reaction product in experiments and the energy consumptions in production of this component are measured as 5.8 MJ/mol, 3.1 MJ/mol and 69.0 MJ/mol, for 355 nm, 532 nm and 248 nm wavelengths, respectively. The mechanism of conversion and production of new stable hydrocarbons is also theoretically investigated. It is found that in theoretical calculations, the ion-molecule reactions should be included and this leads to a unique approach in proper explanation of the experimental measurements.