title: End-to-end self-assembly of gold nanorods in isopropanol solution: experimental and theoretical studies.
abstract: We describe here a modification of properties of colloidal gold nanorods (NRs) resulting from the chemical treatment used to carry out their transfer into isopropanol (IPA) solution. The NRs acquire a tendency to attach one to another by their ends (end-to-end assembly). We focus on the investigation of the change in position and shape of the longitudinal surface plasmon (l-SPR) band after self-assembly. The experimental results are supported by a theoretical calculation, which rationalizes the dramatic change in optical properties when the NRs are positioned end-to-end at short distances. The detailed spectroscopic characterization performed at the consecutive stages of transfer of the NRs from water into IPA solution revealed the features of the interaction between the polymers used as ligands and their contribution to the final stage, when the NRs were dispersed in IPA solution. The efficient method of aligning the NRs detailed here may facilitate applications of the self-assembled NRs as building blocks for optical materials and biological sensing.
authors.affiliation: Advanced Materials Engineering and Modelling Group, Faculty of Chemistry, Wrocław University of Technology, WybrzeżeWyspiańskiego 27, 50-370 Wroclaw, Poland ; Laboratoire de Biologie et Pharmacologie Appliquée, CNRS, École Normale Supérieure de Cachan, Avenue du Président Wilson 61, 94230 Cachan, France.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gordel
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical and Quantum Chemistry, Wrocław University of Technology, Wybrzeże Wyspiańskiego 27, 50-370 Wroclaw, Poland.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Piela
authors.affiliation: Advanced Materials Engineering and Modelling Group, Faculty of Chemistry, Wrocław University of Technology, WybrzeżeWyspiańskiego 27, 50-370 Wroclaw, Poland ; Laboratoire de Photonique Quantique et Moléculaire, CNRS, École Normale Supérieure de Cachan, Avenue du Président Wilson 61, 94230 Cachan, France.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kołkowski
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Chemistry, Wrocław University of Technology, Wyspiańskiego 27, 50-370 Wrocław, Poland.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Koźlecki
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Biologie et Pharmacologie Appliquée, CNRS, École Normale Supérieure de Cachan, Avenue du Président Wilson 61, 94230 Cachan, France.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Buckle
authors.affiliation: Advanced Materials Engineering and Modelling Group, Faculty of Chemistry, Wrocław University of Technology, WybrzeżeWyspiańskiego 27, 50-370 Wroclaw, Poland.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Samoć
keywords: End-to-end assembly; Gold nanorods; Local electric field enhancement; Plasmon modes