Inelastic Light Scattering by Long Narrow Gold Nanocrystals: When Size, Shape, Crystallinity, and Assembly Matter

We report the synthesis of long narrow gold nanocrystals and the study of their vibrational dynamics using inelastic light-scattering measurements. Rich experimental spectra are obtained for monodomain gold nanorods and pentagonal twinned bipyramids. Their assignment involves diameter-dependent nontotally symmetric vibrations which are modeled in the framework of continuum elasticity by taking into account simultaneously the size, shape, and crystallinity of the nanocrystals. Light scattering by vibrations with angular momenta larger than 2 is reported. It is shown to increase with the ratio of the nanocrystals diameter to the interparticle separation. It originates from the plasmonic coupling due to the self-assembly of the nanocrystals after deposition.