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Nanoscale near-field infrared spectroscopic imaging of silica-shell/gold-core and pure silica nanoparticles

Journal of Nanoparticle Research volume 14, Article number: 766 (2012) Cite this article

Abstract

Spectroscopic near-field imaging of single silica-shell/Au-core and pure silica nanoparticles deposited on a silicon substrate is performed in the infrared wavelength range (λ = 9–11 μm) using scattering-type scanning near-field optical microscopy (s-SNOM). By tuning the wavelength of the incident light, we have acquired information on the spectral phonon–polariton resonant near-field interactions of the silica-shell/Au-core and pure silica nanoparticles with the probing tip. We made use of the enhanced near-field coupling between the high index Au-core and the probing tip to achieve spectral near-field contrast of the thin silica coating (thickness < 10 nm). Our results show that spectroscopic imaging of thin coating layers and complex core–shell nanoparticles can be directly performed by s-SNOM.

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Acknowledgments

The financial support provided by the Department of Physics and Astronomy and the College of Natural Science and Mathematics (CNSM), California State University, Long Beach (startup grant), the American Chemical Society, Petroleum Research Fund (ACS PRF) under grant PRF# 50461-UNI10 and from Research Corporation for Science Advancement Award are all gratefully acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics and Astronomy, California State University Long Beach, California, CA, 90840, USA

    Zachary Nuño, Brandon Hessler, Bryan Heiberg, Ralph Damato, Terry Dunlap & Yohannes Abate

  2. Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, California State University Long Beach, California, CA, 90840, USA

    Young-Seok Shon

Authors
  1. Zachary Nuño
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  2. Brandon Hessler
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  3. Bryan Heiberg
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  4. Ralph Damato
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  5. Terry Dunlap
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  6. Young-Seok Shon
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  7. Yohannes Abate
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Correspondence to Yohannes Abate.

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Nuño, Z., Hessler, B., Heiberg, B. et al. Nanoscale near-field infrared spectroscopic imaging of silica-shell/gold-core and pure silica nanoparticles. J Nanopart Res 14, 766 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11051-012-0766-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11051-012-0766-z

Keywords

  • Silica-shell
  • Scattering-type scanning near-field optical microscopy (s-SNOM)
  • Coating layers
  • Core–shell nanoparticles
  • Near-field infrared imaging