Quantitative Measurement of Surface Plasmon-Enhanced Electromagnetic Fields on Single Plasmonic Nanostructures

佛罗里达大学的魏大卫魏教授得到了化学系大分子、超分子和纳米化学项目的支持，正在开发方法和策略，用于直接定量评估单纳米颗粒水平上表面等离子体共振（SPR）增强电磁（EM）场的大小。这些方法是允许映射的横向空间分布的“热点”的各向异性纳米结构的表面上，此外，允许深入调查的局部消光曲线，偏振依赖性，和超快激发态动力学的个别热点在纳米尺度。正在进行的局部纳米结构的几何形状和所产生的本地化SPR的属性之间的精确相关性的详细分析，以显着推进纳米本地化热点的性质和起源的理解。长期目标是极大地促进新型等离子体纳米材料的开发，其性能针对生物医学和太阳能领域的应用进行了优化，包括单分子传感和太阳能电池。拟议项目的发现旨在开发新的等离子体纳米材料和技术，促进公共健康和清洁能源，这两个对国家的未来至关重要。该计划更广泛的教育影响是指导和启发下一代生物医学传感和太阳能生产科学家。魏教授和他的团队特别关注扩大在科学领域代表性不足的群体的参与。结合学生辅导和课程开发，魏教授积极参与正在进行的外展活动，教育高中学生，教师和公众对等离子体纳米材料。

Prof. Wei David Wei at the University of Florida is being supported by the Macromolecular, Supramolecular and Nanochemistry Program of the Division of Chemistry in developing methods and strategies for a direct and quantitative evaluation of the magnitude of surface plasmon resonance (SPR)-enhanced electromagnetic (EM) fields at the single-nanoparticle level. These methods are to allow the mapping of the lateral spatial distribution of "hot spots" on the surfaces of anisotropic nanostructures and, furthermore, to permit a thorough investigation into the local extinction profiles, polarization dependences, and ultra-fast excited state dynamics of individual hot spots at the nanometer scale. A detailed analysis of the precise correlation between local nanostructure geometry and the attributes of the resulting localized SPR is being made in order to significantly advance the understanding of the nature and origin of nano-localized hot spots. The long-range objective is to greatly facilitate the development of new classes of plasmonic nanomaterials with properties optimized for applications in the biomedical and solar energy fields, including single-molecule sensing and solar photocatalysis.Discoveries from the proposed project are targeted at the development of new plasmonic nanomaterials and technologies that promote public health and clean energy, both vital to the nation's future. The broader educational impact of this program is to be the instruction and inspiration of the next generation of scientists in biomedical sensing and solar energy production. Prof. Wei and his group are specifically focusing on broadening the participation of groups underrepresented in the sciences. In conjunction with student mentorship and curriculum development, Prof. Wei is active in ongoing outreach activities to educate high school students, teachers, and the general public on plasmonic nanomaterials.