Widely tuning optical properties of nanoporous gold-titania core-shells

Widely shifting localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) bands of nanoporous metals is essential for light manipulation within small volumes. In this work, nanoporous gold-titania core-shells fabricated by atomic layer deposition exhibit tunable LSPR of gold skeletons in comparison with nanoporous gold-alumina developed before. Extremely large red-shift of LSPR band in nanoporous gold-titania from 537 to 751 nm results from high refractive index of titania and its dielectric medium dependence of LSPR, and the well-controlled thickness of titania shell at the nanometer scale will benefit to integrate optical nanodevices with supreme performances. (C) 2011 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3523644]