Research Highlight #7:

Maneuvering the Optical Properties of Silver Nanostructures through Shape-Controlled Synthesis

B. Wiley, J. McLellan, A. Siekkinen, H. Cai, Y. Chen, Y. Xiong, D. Ginger & Y. Xia;
Department of Chemistry, University of Washington

To maneuver the plasmonic properties of silver nanostructures through shape-controlled synthesis, we have produced silver nanostructures with a range of different shapes (nanobars). Due to their anisotropy, the nanobars exhibit two plasmon resonance peaks, scattering light both in the visible and near-infrared. Near-field calculations and surface-enhanced Raman scattering measurements were performed to illuminate how the local electric field around nanobars depends on the wavelength and polarization of incident light. This chemical synthesis is currently being extended to the biomimetic systems where peptides serve as both the reducing and capping agents.

Contact D. Ginger, for more details, ginger@chem.washington.edu.

Nano Letters, 7 1032-1036 (2007).