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A Study of the Surface Plasmon Resonance of Silver Nanoparticles by the Discrete Dipole Approximation Method: Effect of Shape, Size, Structure, and Assembly

Plasmonics volume 5, pages 85–97 (2010)Cite this article

Abstract

The surface plasmon resonance (SPR) of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) was studied with the discrete dipole approximation considering different shapes, sizes, dielectric environments, and supraparticles assemblies. In particular, we focused our simulations on AgNPs with sizes below 10 nm, where the correction of silver dielectric constant for intrinsic size effects is necessary. We found that AgNPs shape and assembly can induce distinctive features in the extinction spectra and that SPR is more intense when AgNPs have discoid or flat shapes and are embedded in a dielectric shell with high refractive index. However, the SPR loses much of its distinctive features when size effects and stabilizing molecules induce significant broadening of the extinction bands that is often observed in the case of thiolated AgNPs smaller than about 5 nm. These results are useful indications for in situ characterization and monitoring of AgNPs synthesis and for the engineering of AgNPs with new plasmonic properties.

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Acknowledgments

Authors acknowledge Prof. M. Meneghetti for hints and useful discussions. V.A. acknowledges Aldo Gini Foundation for financial support during his exchange period at MIT.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemical Sciences, University of Padova, Via Marzolo 1, 35131, Padova, Italy

    Vincenzo Amendola

  2. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA, 02139, USA

    Osman M. Bakr & Francesco Stellacci

  3. School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University (USA), Cambridge, MA, USA

    Osman M. Bakr

Authors
  1. Vincenzo Amendola
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  2. Osman M. Bakr
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  3. Francesco Stellacci
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Correspondence to Vincenzo Amendola.

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Amendola, V., Bakr, O.M. & Stellacci, F. A Study of the Surface Plasmon Resonance of Silver Nanoparticles by the Discrete Dipole Approximation Method: Effect of Shape, Size, Structure, and Assembly. Plasmonics 5, 85–97 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11468-009-9120-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11468-009-9120-4

Keywords

  • Silver
  • Metal
  • Nanoparticles
  • Plasmon
  • Absorption
  • DDA