Anisotropic plasmonic nanomaterials

拟议的研究计划将从根本上开发新型功能等离子体纳米材料。纳米材料的独特性质源于它们的物理和/或化学各向异性，这些各向异性将被合理地设计和合成。这种各向异性将导致大量新的物理和化学现象，这将在各种应用中有用。新型纳米材料的功能将来自局域表面等离子体共振(LSPR)，即等离子体纳米粒子中传导电子的集体振荡，最常见的激发方式是用平面光波照射这些纳米粒子。LSPR负责许多现象，包括例如，金或银纳米颗粒溶液的明亮颜色，也在光学、生物化学、光谱学和工程中得到了广泛的应用。在等离子体纳米粒子中可以存在许多正常的原始LSPR模。然而，只有具有非零电偶极矩的LSPR才能被远场光波激发，而许多其他LSPR模式仍然不可用，尽管它们在纳米粒子中具有更好的空间分布和激发能量。这妨碍了光能的有效利用，需要加以解决。通过在等离子体纳米粒子附近创造各向异性的环境，我们将能够诱导正常LSPR模式的混合(杂交)。这些新的混合LSPR模将是正常基模的线性组合，具有非零的电偶极矩，因此可以用平面远场光激发。我们将为各向异性等离子体纳米材料的合理设计开发理论和实验策略，合成它们，并测试它们在热等离子体、光催化和热电子产生方面的性能。研究计划将是跨学科和协作性的。我计划与其他学科(电子、物理、生物化学)的同事保持密切联系，以及与专门从事生物医学和光学设备的工业伙伴保持密切联系。这将为本科生、研究生和博士后学习创造非常有利的条件，提高他们的基础准备和知识，获得全面的观点和竞争技能。在过去的6年里，这种模式被证明是成功的。

The proposed research program will develop fundamentally novel functional plasmonic nanomaterials. The unique nature of the nanomaterials will originate from their physical and/or chemical anisotropy that will be rationally designed and synthesized. Such anisotropy will lead to a plethora of new physical and chemical phenomena, which will be useful for various applications.The functionalities of novel nanomaterials will arise from localized surface plasmon resonances (LSPR), collective oscillations of conducting electrons in plasmonic nanoparticles, most often excited by illuminating such nanoparticles with a planar light wave. LSPR are responsible for many phenomena, including for example, for bright colors of gold or silver nanoparticle solutions, and have also found numerous applications in optics, biochemistry, spectroscopy, and engineering. A number of normal primitive LSPR modes can exist in a plasmonic nanoparticle. However, only an LSPR with a non-zero electric dipole moment can be excited by a far field optical wave, whereas many other LSPR modes remain unavailable, despite their potentially better spatial distribution in a nanoparticle and excitation energy. This prevents efficient use of the energy of light and needs to be addressed. By creating anisotropic environment near a plasmonic nanoparticle we will be able to induce mixing (hybridization) of normal LSPR modes. These new mixed LSPR modes will be linear combinations of the normal primitive modes, with a non-zero electric dipole moment and can therefore be excited with planar far field light. Spatial distribution of the modes and their energy will be tuned to improve the efficiency of functional light conversion.We will develop theoretical and experimental strategies for the rational design of anisotropic plasmonic nanomaterials, synthesize them and test their performance in thermoplasmonics, photo-catalysis, and hot electron generation.The research program will be interdisciplinary and collaborative in nature. I plan to maintain close contacts with colleagues from other disciplines (electronics, physics, biochemistry), as well as with industrial partners specializing in biomedical and optical devices. This will create very favorable conditions for undergraduate students, graduate students and postdocs to learn, advance their fundamental preparation and knowledge, and to gain comprehensive views and competitive skills. Such model has proven successful over the past 6 years.