Soft Matter

The review describes the progress in the field of tunable plasmonic nanostructured materials based on the combination of noble metal (typically gold or silver) nanoparticles and stimuli-responsive polymers acting as interparticle linkers. This combination enables the transduction of chemical and physical forces into an optical signal, arising from the localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) and plasmon coupling effects in metal nanoparticles and their aggregates. We briefly overview the existing designs of such tunable plasmonic nanostructures, discuss their advantages and shortcomings, demonstrate possible applications in optical sensors, biosensors, and various miniaturized devices and systems, and conclude with future prospects.