Au nanorod plasmonic superstructures obtained by a combined droplet evaporation and stamping method

Abstract

A combined droplet evaporation and stamping method is presented for the fabrication of Au nanorod superstructures. Specifically, domains of nanorods parallel to the substrate in a close-packed side-to-side fashion are obtained by evaporation of Au chlorobenzene solutions, followed by stamping of the dried droplet on transparent substrates. To understand and optimize the assembly mechanism, synthetic parameters affecting the droplet evaporation process are carefully investigated. The optical characterization of individual domains shows markedly anisotropic extinction, confirming the high degree of internal order generated by aligned nanorods. In addition, the unique orientation of domains produces a unique distribution of color intensities, which is used for the initial demonstration of a novel plasmonic encoding/decoding system.