Hydrophobic Au nanocrystal assemblies (both ordered and amorphous) were dispersed in aqueous solution via the assistance of lipid vesicles. The intertwine between vesicles and Au assemblies was made possible through a careful selection of the length of alkyl chains on Au nanocrystals. Extinction spectra of Au assemblies showed two peaks that were assigned to a scattering mode that red-shifted with increasing the assembly size and an absorption mode associated with localized surface plasmon that was independent of their size.
This plasmon fingerprint could be used as a probe for investigating the optical properties of such assemblies. Our water-soluble assemblies enable exploring a variety of potential applications including solar energy and biomedicine.
Reference:
Water-Dispersed Hydrophobic Au Nanocrystal Assemblies with a Plasmon Fingerprint,
Nailiang Yang, Claire Deeb, Jean-Luc Pelouard, Nordin Felidj, & Marie-Paule Pileni
ACS Nano (2017), 11 (8), pp 7797–7806 / DOI : https://doi.org/10.1021/acsnano.7b01605
