Facet-dependent optical properties of polyhedral Au-Cu₂O core-shell nanocrystals

We fabricated Au-Cu₂O core-shell octahedra, cuboctahedra, and nanocubes having sizes of 90-220 nm using 50 nm octahedral cores. The smaller particle sizes minimize the strong light scattering features from the Cu₂O shells and enable the surface plasmon resonance (SPR) absorption band of the gold cores to be clearly identified. Beyond a lower shell thickness limit, the SPR band positions of the gold cores are independent of the shell thickness, but are strongly dependent on the exposed particle surfaces. The plasmonic band red-shifts from Au-Cu₂O octahedra to cuboctahedra and nanocubes, and differs by as much as 26 nm between the octahedra and the nanocubes. The same facet-dependent optical effects were observed using larger octahedral gold cores and cubic gold cores. In contrast, simulation spectra show progressively red-shifted SPR band positions with increasing shell thickness. The Cu₂O shells are also found to exhibit facet-dependent optical behavior. These nanocrystals can respond to changes in the solvent environment such as solvents with different refractive indices, indicating that the plasmonic field of the gold cores can extend beyond the particle surfaces despite the presence of thick shells. Plane-selective spectral responses to low concentrations of surfactants were also recorded.