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Near field techniques, such as surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS), rely on the ability of plasmonic nanoparticles to induce localized electromagnetic field enhancements in close proximity to the metallic surface. For this reason, plasmonic nanostructures are a fundamental component of this spectroscopic technique. The possibility of achieving SERS signal enhancements high enough to enable sensitive identification of analytes down to the single molecule level is strictly related to the presence of the so-called “hot spots”, which can be located at the vertices, edges, or crevices in isolated nanoparticles or at narrow junctions between assembled nanoparticles. In turn, the presence of finely tunable hot spots correlates to the possibility of applying SERS as a reliable spectroscopic technique in the analytical and biomedical fields.
In this project, the Aresty Fellow will learn how to control and optimize hot spot geometry for nanostructured systems based on gold nanoparticles by focusing on the interplay between kinetics and thermodynamics to finely tune nanoparticle morphology and achieve extremely sharp structural features. In addition, the fellow will learn how to model the electric field in close proximity to the surface of these nanostructures and how to further enhance the electric field at the hot spots via nanoparticle assembly. This project is primarily a chemical synthesis-based project.
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