Nanoplasmonic Photoluminescence Spectroscopy at Single-Particle Level: Sensing for Ethanol Oxidation

Surface plasmon resonances of metal nanoparticles have shown significant promise for the use of solar energy to drive catalytic chemical reactions. More importantly, understanding and monitoring such catalytic reactions at single-nanoparticle level is crucial for the study of local reaction processes. Herein, using plasmonic photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy, we describe a novel sensing method for catalytic ethanol oxidation reactions at the single-nanoparticle level. The Au nanorod monitors the interfacial interaction with ethanol during the catalytic reaction through the PL intensity changes in the single-particle PL spectra. The analysis of energy relaxation of excited electron-hole pairs indicates the relationship between the PL quenching and ethanol oxidation reaction on the single Au nanorod.