Plasmonic Core/Half-Shell Nanoparticles: Exploring Half-Shell Growth for Gold, Titania, Silica and Cuprous Oxide onto Silver Nanocubes

Core/shell nanoparticles have often been studied due to their attractive optical, electronic, and catalytic properties. By coupling these core/shell features with physical anisotropy of the shell, complex nanostructures with unique properties can be formed. This research investigates the synthesis and plasmonic properties of silver nanocube/metal and oxide core/shell nanoparticles with full or partial shells of gold, titania, silica, and cuprous oxide. The resultant shells had quite distinct morphologies dependant on the shell material chosen. While the gold and titania shell growths are incomplete at this time, silica and cuprous oxide provided positive results. The AgNC/silica core/shell nanoparticles exhibited a complete and conformal coverage of silica. The AgNC/cuprous oxide core/shell nanoparticles formed had a distinct half-shell morphology with either pyramidal or cubic half-shells. Furthermore, the cuprous oxide half-shells caused significant modifications to the localized surface plasmon resonance of the AgNC core and resulted in in-solution hybridization of the plasmon modes.