Fabrication and characterization of gold-polymer nanocomposite plasmonic nanoarrays in a porous alumina template

ACS Nano. 2010 Apr 27;4(4):2249-55. doi: 10.1021/nn9018398.

Abstract

A facile, cost-effective, and manufacturable method to produce gold-polymer nanocomposite plasmonic nanorod arrays in high-aspect-ratio nanoporous alumina templates is reported, where the formation of gold nanoparticles and the polymerization of a photosensitive polymer by ultraviolet light are simultaneously performed. Transverse mode coupling within a two-dimensional array of the nanocomposite rods results in a progression of resonant modes in the visible and infrared spectral regions when illuminated at normal incidence, a phenomenon previously observed in nanoarrays of solid gold rods in an alumina template. Finite element full-wave analysis in a three-dimensional computational domain confirms our hypothesis that nanoparticles, arranged in a columnar structure, will show a response similar to that of solid gold rods. These studies demonstrate a new simple method of plasmonic nanoarray fabrication, apparently obviating the need for a cumbersome electrochemical process to grow nanoarrays.

Publication types

  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Aluminum Oxide / chemistry*
  • Gold / chemistry*
  • Microscopy, Electron, Scanning
  • Nanocomposites / chemistry*
  • Nanotechnology / instrumentation*
  • Optical Phenomena
  • Polymers / chemistry*
  • Porosity
  • Spectrum Analysis

Substances

  • Polymers
  • Gold
  • Aluminum Oxide