Plasmonic-based hybrid nanomaterial: from synthesis to application

Gold nanoparticles, particularly gold nanorods, have been widely used as sensors and imaging agents due to their unique and tunable morphology-dependent properties and intriguing plasmonic resonance. However, the increasing need of new materials with enhanced properties and functionality led scientists to discover novel hybrid nanomaterials, which involves the formation of two or more components into one nanoplatform. Hence, gold nanorod-based hybrid nanomaterials exhibit simultaneous synergistic effects between the phenomenal plasmonic properties from gold nanorods and the intrinsic properties of the other constituents. The functionality of gold nanorod-based hybrid nanomaterials greatly increases due to its enhanced performance characteristics, which directly impacts the research interests in the chemical, biological, and environmental fields. In this work, we successfully fabricated several different types of gold nanorod-based hybrid nanomaterials: silica coated gold nanorods, metals-tipped silica coated gold nanorods, silica encapsulated silver coated gold nanorods, and silica encapsulated Pt plated gold nanorods. The fundamental understandings of each of these hybrid nanomaterials are investigated in terms of its mechanism and plasmonic properties, as well as its impact on various applications such as surface enhanced Raman scattering and catalysis