Nanoplasmonic Nanorods/Nanowires from Single to Assembly: Syntheses, Physical Mechanisms and Applications

Gold nanorods are anisotropic and exhibit different optical characteristics in both transverse and longitudinal directions, so the plasmon resonance in the near-infrared region will reflect two absorption peaks. Because of strong enhancements of electromagnetic fields of gold nanorods, gold nanorods are widely used in medical treatment, biological detection, sensors, solar cells and other fields. Since rapid developments of gold nanorods, it is necessary to sort out the recent achievements. In this review, we select three classifications of single nanorods/nanowires, dimers and assembled nanorods to introduce their syntheses methods, optical properties and applications respectively. We firstly overview the history of nanorods/nanowires syntheses and summarize the improvement of the commonly utilized seed-mediated growth synthesis method; and then, physically, nano-plasmonic and optical properties of single and assembled nanorod/nanowires are concluded in detail. Lastly, we mainly summarize the recent advances in applications and provide perspective in different fields.