Localized Surface Plasmon Resonance of Cu@Cu2O core-shell nanoparticles: Absorption, Scattering and Luminescence

By co-deposition via RF-Sputtering and RF-PECVD methods and using Cu target and acetylene gas, we prepared Cu@Cu2O core-shell nanoparticles on the a-C:H thin film at room temperature. Mie absorption of Cu cores, scattering from Cu2O shell and luminescence that rises from carrier transfer in Cu@Cu2O interface were employed to fit the whole range of visible extinction spectrum of these core-shells. From simulation it was found that scattering and luminescence have an important effect on the energy, width and shape of LSPR absorption peak. Shift of LSPR peak is more affected by the dielectric coefficient of shell than Cu core size particularly for Cu core diameter above 4 nm. Also, the LSPR absorption peak is damped by decreasing Cu core size and dielectric coefficient of shell. The energy of LSPR absorption peak is independent of shell thickness and host dielectric coefficient. The LSPR peak is damped by increasing shell thickness and host dielectric coefficient too. The scattering contribution in extinction spectra was affected more by shell size than dielectric coefficient. These points are important for detection techniques based on LSPR peak. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.