N-Heterocyclic carbene-stabilized gold nanoparticles with tunable sizes.

A simple and straightforward synthesis of N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC)-protected gold nanoparticles is derived from (benz)imidazolium-AuX4 complexes and NaBH4 only. The proposed method allows size tuning, from 3 to 6 nm, by adding (benz)imidazolium bromide. Changing the reducing agent to tBuNH2BH3 shifts the size range to ca. 6-12 nm. A one pot protocol is also reported from AuCl, (benz)imidazolium bromides and NaBH4, thereby providing an even more straightforward way of producing NHC-capped gold nanoparticles. In addition, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) is used to unambiguously evidence, on the nanoparticles, the covalent bond formed between the NHC and the surface gold atoms.

Luminescence properties of ZnGa2O4:Cr3+,Bi3+ nanophosphors for thermometry applications.

Chromium(iii) and bismuth(iii) co-doped ZnGa2O4 nanoparticles are synthesized by a hydrothermal method assisted by microwave heating. The obtained nanoparticles, with a diameter smaller than 10 nm, present good luminescence emission in the deep red range centered at 695 nm after coating with a silica layer and calcination at 1000 °C during 2 h. Persistent luminescence and photoluminescence properties are investigated at several temperatures. Bandwidth and luminescence intensity ratio of persistent emission do not present enough change with temperature to obtain a competitive nanothermometer with high sensitivity. Nevertheless, persistent luminescence decay curves present a significant shape change since the trap levels involved in the deexcitation mechanism are unfilled with increase of temperature. Even if the sensitivity reaches 1.7% °C-1 at 190 °C, the repeatability is not optimal. Furthermore, photoluminescent lifetime in the millisecond range extracted from the photoluminescence decay profiles drastically decreases with temperature increase. This variation is attributed to the thermal equilibrium between two thermally coupled chromium(iii) levels (2E and 4T2) that have very different deexcitation lifetimes. For ZnGa2O4:Cr3+ 0.5%,Bi3+ 0.5%, the temperature sensitivity reaches 1.93% °C-1 at 200 °C. Therefore, this kind of nanoparticle is a very promising thermal sensor for temperature determination at the nanoscale.

Efficient photo-thermal activation of gold nanoparticle-doped polymer plasmonic switches.

We report on the photo-thermal activation of dielectric loaded plasmonic switches comprised of gold nanoparticle-doped polymer deposited onto a gold film. The plasmonic switches rely on a multi-mode interferometer design and are fabricated by electron beam lithography applied to a positive resin doped with gold nanoparticles at a volume ratio of 0.52%. A cross-bar switching is obtained at telecom wavelengths by pumping the devices with a visible beam having a frequency within the localized surface plasmon resonance band of the embedded nanoparticles. By comparing the switching performances of doped and undoped devices, we show that for the modest doping level we consider, the power needed to activate the doped switches is reduced by a factor 2.5 compared to undoped devices. The minimization of activation power is attributed to enhanced light-heat conversion and optimized spatial heat generation for doped devices and not to a change of the thermo-optic coefficient of the doped polymer.

Size Tailoring of Magnetite Particles Formed by Aqueous Precipitation: An Example of Thermodynamic Stability of Nanometric Oxide Particles.

The particle mean size of magnetite precipitated in aqueous solution can be adjusted and stabilized against ripening over a large range at the nanometric scale (1.5-12.5 nm). Such a tailoring of particles is obtained by controlling the pH and the ionic strength imposed by a noncomplexing salt in the precipitation medium. The higher the pH and the ionic strength are, the smaller the particle size is. Above a critical pH value, which depends on the ionic strength and the temperature, the secondary particle growth by Ostwald ripening does not take place anymore. The stabilization of nanoparticles seems to result from thermodynamics rather than kinetics. Copyright 1998 Academic Press.