Synergistic modulation of surface interaction to assemble metal nanoparticles into two-dimensional arrays with tunable plasmonic properties.

A simple strategy based on the synergistic modulation of inter-particle and substrate-particle interaction is applied for the large-scale fabrication of two-dimensional (2D) Au and Ag nanoparticle arrays. The surface charge of the substrate is used to redistribute the double layer electric charges on the particles and to modulate the inter-particle distance within the 2D nanoparticle arrays on the substrate. The resultant arrays, with a wide range of inter-particle distances, display tunable plasmonic properties.

Two-dimensional heterospectral correlation analysis of the redox-induced conformational transition in cytochrome c using surface-enhanced Raman and infrared absorption spectroscopies on a two-layer gold surface.

The heme protein cytochrome c adsorbed to a two-layer gold surface modified with a self-assembled monolayer of 2-mercaptoethanol was analyzed using a two-dimensional (2D) heterospectral correlation analysis that combined surface-enhanced infrared absorption spectroscopy (SEIRAS) and surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS). Stepwise increasing electric potentials were applied to alter the redox state of the protein and to induce conformational changes within the protein backbone. We demonstrate herein that 2D heterospectral correlation analysis is a particularly suitable and useful technique for the study of heme-containing proteins as the two spectroscopies address different portions of the protein.

Patterning of plasmonic nanoparticles into multiplexed one-dimensional arrays based on spatially modulated electrostatic potential.

We report a new strategy to pattern plasmonic nanoparticles into multiplexed one-dimensional arrays based on the spatially modulated electrostatic potential. The 32 nm Au nanoparticles can be simultaneously deposited on one chip with tunable interparticle distance by solely adjusting the width of the grooves. Furthermore, 32 and 13 nm Au nanoparticles can be selectively deposited in grooves of different widths on one chip.

Assembly of graphene sheets into hierarchical structures for high-performance energy storage.

The electrodes with the hierarchical nanoarchitectures could offer a huge increase in energy storage capacity. However, the ability to achieve such hierarchical architectures on a multiple scale still has remained a great challenge. In this paper, we report a scalable self-assembly strategy to create bioinspired hierarchical structures composed of functionalized graphene sheets to work as anodes of lithium-ion batteries.