Reversible Thermoresponsive Plasmonic Core‐Satellite Nanostructures That Exhibit Both Expansion and Contraction (UCST and LCST)

• DOI: 10.1002/marc.201800451
• Publication Date: 2018-09-25T16:17:26Z
• Authors: Fei Han; Alexander H. Soer...; J. Justin Gooding
• Keywords: Polymers; Surface Properties; core-satellite nanostructures; Bioengineering; 02 engineering and technology; 530; 7. Clean energy; anzsrc-for: 34 Chemical Sciences; anzsrc-for: 40 Engineering; Nanotechnology; Particle Size; reversible optical properties; thermoresponsive polymers; anzsrc-for: 03 Chemical Sciences; 40 Engineering; 3403 Macromolecular and Materials Chemistry; 34 Chemical Sciences; Molecular Structure; Temperature; 500; Surface Plasmon Resonance; anzsrc-for: 3403 Macromolecular and Materials Chemistry; Nanostructures; gold nanoparticles; Gold; anzsrc-for: 09 Engineering; 0210 nano-technology

AbstractThe assembly of sophisticated gold nanoparticle constructs where thermoresponsive core‐satellite nanostructures are created and the satellites are close enough to the core for strong surface plasmon resonance coupling to occur, has begun to be developed. The linker between the core and the satellites being a thermoresponsive polymer means that a dispersion of these nanostructures will show temperature‐dependent optical properties as the distance between the core and the satellites changes. Unlike previous related thermoresponsive core‐satellite systems that undergo a single thermoresponsive transition, herein a polymer system with dual thermoresponsive transitions (block copolymer with both lower critical solution temperature and upper critical solution temperature) is employed as a linker that modulates the gap distance between the “core” and “satellites” in response to the temperature. In this way, optical properties of dispersions can be dynamically tuned. The system permits wide and reversible control of the optical properties, which may render them excellent candidates for reversible nanosensors.