Opto-Thermal Properties of some Composite Metallic Nanoshells for their Thermoplasmonic Applications

The opto-thermal properties of Au- and Ag-coated core-shell hybrid nanoparticles (NPs) have been thoroughly investigated by using the PyMieLab V1.0 simulation tool based on electrodynamics modelling. We, specifically, investigated the plasmonic resonance tunability and spatial temperature profiles of Au- and Ag-coated composed hybrid core-shell nanospheres as optimized combinations of alloy core (viz. Au0.25Ag0.75, Au0.25Cu0.75, Au(0.75)Al(0.2)5, Ag0.75Cu0.25 and Ag0.75Al0.25) immersed in the local water (n = 1.33) media. In the present core-shell nanostructure configuration, the alloy core radius (r) has been changed from 5 to 50 nm (with 5-nm step-size) and shell thickness, t = 5, and10nm is kept the same with varying core radii. The localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) of Au- and Ag-coated optimized alloys composed of hybrid core-shell nanospheres is tuned between 238-545 nm and 347-531 nm, respectively, and lies under the ultraviolet-visible segment of the electromagnetic band. The temperature recorded at the surface of core-shell NPs (i.e. alloy core@gold/silver shell) lies between the range of 0.20 and 2.38 degrees C (for Au-coated alloys) and 0.64-2.44 degrees C (for Ag- coated alloy) with different core/shell size ratios. The present results are of paramount importance for using these alloy core-plasmonic shell NPs in several types of thermoplasmonic applications.