Plasmonic properties of silver coated non-spherical gallium alloy nanoparticles

Gallium based alloy nanoparticles are of great concern in the field of liquid plasmonics. The study focuses on optical properties of gallium alloy nanoparticles in sphere and spheroidal shapes. The absorption spectra are tuned for different sizes and aspect ratios. Herein, we observe core-shell nanoparticles for different core (GaAg, GaAl, GaHg and GaIn) and same Ag shell, to study the dominance of core and shell on localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) induced properties. This work is solely dedicated for analyzing shape effects on LSPR of Ga based alloys other than Gallinstan and EGaIn etc. The effect of fixed aspect ratio and variable effective radius on the optical efficiencies of spheroidal (prolate) nanoparticles is analyzed in comparison to spherical and oblate nanoparticles for corresponding effective radius. Mie theory and discrete dipole approximation (DDA) methods are used for analyzing the optical behavior of Ga based alloys for different size and shapes. The spectra are observed within near UV and Visible region of electromagnetic spectrum. Gallium alloys: GaAg and GaAl show good plasmonic behavior as an alternative material to popular GaIn and can serve as an application in various plasmonics process based energy storage devices and soft electronics.

Automated summary

This study focuses on the optical properties of gallium alloy nanoparticles in liquid plasmonics. The effects of different core-shell structures on localized surface plasmon resonance are investigated. Mie theory and discrete dipole approximation methods are used to analyze the optical behavior of gallium alloys of various sizes and shapes. The results show that GaAg and GaAl alloys exhibit good plasmonic behavior and can be used as alternative materials to GaIn in energy storage devices and soft electronics.