Multipole Surface Plasmon Resonance in Electrodeposited Gold Nanoparticles

Electrodeposition is a convenient, economical and template-free tool to create the gold nanostructures. A two-electrode electrochemical process is used for the deposition process. In this method by controlling the deposition time and electrode potential, nearly spherical and rod-like gold nanostructures were synthesized through the reduction of Chlorauric acid with citric acid as a complexing agent. Spherical gold nanostructures of different size around 2nm to 30 nm and rod-like nanostructures with an aspect ratio 0.5 were grown directly on fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO)-coated glass substrate. The growth mechanism of gold nanostructures is explained with the help of oriented attachment process. The contact angle measurement showed the hydrophilic nature of gold nanostructures using water with contact angle of about 56 degrees. The optical properties showed a dipole, quadrupole and an octupole plasmon resonance mode at around 625 nm, 530 nm and 422 nm respectively. The dipole resonance peak extends further to give a broad absorption band in the near infrared region of electromagnetic waves. The refractive index sensitivity of gold nanoparticles in various solvents was investigated by calculating the red shift of surface plasmon resonance (SPR) peaks. The quadrupole plasmon resonance mode showed maximum SPR sensitivity as compared to dipole and octupole plasmon resonance mode. The controlled formation of gold nanoparticles with variation of SPR over wide range of visible region supports the potential applications in biosensors, nanoelectronics and plasmon enhanced light absorption in photovoltaics, etc.