Expanding the plasmonic response of bimetallic nanoparticles by laser seeding

This work explores a cost-effective route to enhance the tuning range of the optical response of metal nanostructures on substrates beyond the ranges that are achievable through the nanostructure dimensions, composition or dewetting processes. The new route (laser seeding) uses single nanosecond laser pulses to induce dewetting in regions of a metal layer deposited on a glass substrate followed by the deposition of a second metal layer, both layers being deposited by pulsed laser deposition. In order to show the possibilities of this new route, we have chosen that the two metals were different, namely Ag and Au. The comparison of the optical response of these regions to those that were laser irradiated after deposition of the second metal layer shows that while nanoalloyed nanoparticles (NPs) are formed in the latter case, the NPs produced in the former case have a heterogeneous structure. The interface between the two metals is either sharp or a narrow region where they have mixed depending on the laser fluence used. While the nanoalloyed NPs exhibit a single, narrow surface plasmon resonance (SPR), the heterogeneous NPs show broader SPRs that peak in the near infrared and depending on conditions exhibit even two clear SPRs. The laser seeding approach in the conditions used in this work allows for the expansion of the tuning range of the color to the blue-green region, i.e. beyond the region that can be achieved through nanoalloyed NPs (yellow-red region). In addition, the results presented foresee the laser seeding route as a means to produce round and almost isolated NPs in an enhanced range of diameters.