title: Hydrogen storage in Pd nanodisks characterized with a novel nanoplasmonic sensing scheme.
abstract: A novel nanoplasmonic sensing scheme is introduced based on remote real-time detection of induced electronic and shape/structural changes in a metal nanoparticle during the metal-hydride formation process. The localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) of the nanoparticle is utilized as signal transducer for optical readout. As a model system, hydrogen storage through metal-hydride formation is studied in Pd nanodisks. The experimentally obtained plasmonic response to hydrogen uptake yields pressure-LSPR-response isotherms. These isotherms are found to obey Sievert's law in the low-pressure range and exhibit a characteristic "plateau" at 18 Torr upon hydrogen charging and 7.5 Torr upon hydrogen discharging. An additional experiment also clearly shows the typical temperature dependence of the plateau pressure. Conversion of the LSPR signal to absolute hydrogen concentration, based on a proposed linear dependence of the LSPR response to hydrogen uptake, results in p-C isotherms in excellent agreement with those in the literature. This puts forward that the LSPR response is an extremely sensitive, remote, and real-time probe for "bulk" changes in a metal nanoparticle and can readily be used to study processes such as metal-hydride formation for hydrogen storage applications, alloying on the nanoscale, thermal reshaping, and so forth.
authors.affiliation: Department of Applied Physics, Chalmers University of Technology, 412 96 Göteborg, Sweden. langhammer@fy.chalmers.se
authors.forename: Christoph
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Langhammer
authors.forename: Igor
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Zorić
authors.forename: Bengt
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Kasemo
authors.forename: Bruce M
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Clemens
mesh_terms: D000327:Adsorption; D015374:Biosensing Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D003460:Crystallization / Q000379:methods*; D006859:Hydrogen / Q000737:chemistry*; D046911:Macromolecular Substances / Q000737:chemistry; D008422:Materials Testing; D008968:Molecular Conformation; D049329:Nanostructures / Q000737:chemistry*; D036103:Nanotechnology / Q000379:methods*; D010165:Palladium / Q000737:chemistry*; D010316:Particle Size; D020349:Surface Plasmon Resonance / Q000379:methods*; D013499:Surface Properties
chemical_list: D046911:Macromolecular Substances; D010165:Palladium; D006859:Hydrogen