title: Exploring the benefits of electron tomography to characterize the precise morphology of core-shell Au@Ag nanoparticles and its implications on their plasmonic properties.
abstract: In the design and engineering of functional core-shell nanostructures, material characterization at small length scales remains one of the major challenges. Here we show how electron tomography in high-angle annular dark-field scanning transmission electron microscopy (HAADF-STEM) mode can be applied successfully to perform nano-metrological characterization of Au@Ag core-shell nanostructures. This work stresses the benefits of HAADF-STEM tomography and its use as a novel and rigorous tool for understanding the physical-chemical properties of complex 3D core-shell nanostructures. The reconstructed Au@Ag core-shell architecture was used as an input for discrete dipole approximation (DDA)-based electrodynamics simulations of the optical properties of the nanostructures. The implications of localized surface plasmon spectroscopy as well as Raman-enhanced spectroscopy are analysed.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Ciencia de los Materiales, Ingeniería Metalúrgica y Química Inorgánica, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Cádiz, Río San Pedro s/n, Puerto Real, 11510, Spain. jcarlos.hernandez@uca.es.
authors.forename: J C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Hernández-Garrido
authors.forename: M S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Moreno
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ducati
authors.forename: L A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Pérez
authors.forename: P A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Midgley
authors.forename: E A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Coronado