The progress of plasmon-based technologies relies on an understanding of the properties of the enhanced electromagnetic fields generated by the coupling nanostrucutres 1 – 6 . Plasmon-enhanced applications include advanced spectroscopies 7 – 10 , optomechanics 11 , optomagnetics 12 and biosensing 13 – 17 . However, precise determination of plasmon field intensity distribution within a nanogap remains challenging. Here, we demonstrate a molecular ruler made from a set of viologen-based, self-assembly monolayers with which we precisely measures field distribution within a plasmon nanocavity with ~2-Å spatial resolution. We observed an unusually large plasmon field intensity inhomogeneity that we attribute to the formation of a plasmonic comb in the nanocavity. As a consequence, we posit that the generally adopted continuous media approximation for molecular monolayers should be used carefully.

In heterogeneous catalysis, characterization of heterogeneous metal interfaces of bimetallic catalysts is a crucial step to elucidate the catalytic performance and is a key to develop advanced catalysts. However, analytical techniques such as X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy can only work in vacuum conditions and are difficult to use for in situ analysis. Here, we present efficient and convenient core-shell nano particle-enhanced Raman spectroscopy to explore the in situ electronic structures of heterogeneous interfaces (Au@Pd and Au@Pt core-shell NPs) by varying the shell thickness. The experimental observations reported here clearly show that Pd donates electrons to Au, while Pt accepts electrons from Au at the heterogeneous interfaces. This conclusion gains further support from ex situ X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy results. The Au core greatly affects the electronic structures of both the Pd and Pt shells as well as catalytic behaviors. Finally, the as prepared core-shell nanoparticles were used to demonstrate their improved catalytic properties in real electrocatalytic systems such as methanol oxidation and oxygen reduction reactions.

The excited nπ* and ππ* triplets of two benzophenone (BP) and two anthraquinone (AQ) derivatives have been observed in acetonitrile, isopropanol, and mixed aqueous solutions using time-resolved resonance Raman spectroscopic and nanosecond transient absorption experiments. These experimental results, combined with results from density functional theory calculations, reveal the effects of solvent and substituents on the properties, relative energies, and chemical reactivities of the nπ* and ππ* triplets. The triplet nπ* configuration was found to act as the reactive species for a subsequent hydrogen atom transfer reaction to produce a ketyl radical intermediate in the isopropanol solvent, while the triplet ππ* undergoes a proton-coupled electron transfer (PCET) in aqueous solutions to produce a ketyl radical intermediate. This PCET reaction, which occurs via a concerted proton transfer (to the excited carbonyl group) and electron transfer (to the excited phenyl ring), can account for the experimental observation by several different research groups over the past 40 years of the formation of ketyl radicals after photolysis of a number of BP and AQ derivatives in aqueous solutions, although water is considered to be a relatively "inert" hydrogen-donor solvent.

Oxenium ions are important reactive intermediates in synthetic chemistry and enzymology, but little is known of the reactivity, lifetimes, spectroscopic signatures, and electronic configurations of these unstable species. Recent advances have allowed these short-lived ions to be directly detected in solution from laser flash photolysis of suitable photochemical precursors, but all of the studies to date have focused on aryloxenium ions having closed-shell singlet ground state configurations. To study alternative spin configurations, we synthesized a photoprecursor to the m-dimethylamino phenyloxenium ion, which is predicted by both density functional theory and MRMP2 computations to have a triplet ground state electronic configuration. A combination of femtosecond and nanosecond transient absorption spectroscopy, nanosecond time-resolved Resonance Raman spectroscopy (ns-TR(3)), cryogenic matrix EPR spectroscopy, computational analysis, and photoproduct studies allowed us to trace essentially the complete arc of the photophysics and photochemistry of this photoprecursor and permitted a first look at a triplet oxenium ion. Ultraviolet photoexcitation of this precursor populates higher singlet excited states, which after internal conversion to S1 over 800 fs are followed by bond heterolysis in ∼1 ps, generating a hot closed-shell singlet oxenium ion that undergoes vibrational cooling in ∼50 ps followed by intersystem crossing in ∼300 ps to generate the triplet ground state oxenium ion. In contrast to the rapid trapping of singlet phenyloxenium ions by nucleophiles seen in prior studies, the triplet oxenium ion reacts via sequential H atom abstractions on the microsecond time domain to ultimately yield the reduced m-dimethylaminophenol as the only detectable stable photoproduct. Band assignments were made by comparisons to computed spectra of candidate intermediates and comparisons to related known species. The triplet oxenium ion was also detected in the ns-TR(3) experiments, permitting a more clear assignment and identifying the triplet state as the π,π* triplet configuration. The triplet ground state of this ion was further supported by photolysis of the photoprecursor in an ethanol glass at ∼4 K and observing a triplet species by cryogenic EPR spectroscopy.

The formation mechanism of ketyl radicals and several other selective photoreactions of benzophenone and its derivatives are initiated by the protonation of their triplet state and have been investigated using nanosecond time-resolved resonance Raman spectroscopy (ns-TR3) in solutions of varying conditions. Evidence is found that the ketyl radical is generated by the combined action of a ketone protonation and a subsequent electron transfer based on the results from previous studies on the photochemistry and photophysics of benzophenone and the ns-TR3 results reported here for benzophenone, 1,4-dibenzoylbenzene, 3-(hydroxymethyl)benzophenone, and ketoprofen in neutral and acidic solution. In order to better understand the role of the protonated ketone, results are summarized for some selective photochemical reactions of benzophenone and its derivatives induced by protonation in acidic solutions. For the parent benzophenone, the protonation of the ketone leads to the photohydration reactions at the ortho- and meta-positions of the benzene ring in acidic aqueous solutions. For 3-(hydroxymethyl)benzophenone, the protonation promotes an interesting photoredox reaction to become very efficient and the predominant reaction in a pH = 2 aqueous solution. While for ketoprofen, the protonation can initiate a solvent-mediated excited-state intramolecular proton transfer (ESIPT) from the carboxyl group to the carbonyl group that then leads to a decarboxylation reaction in a pH = 0 acidic aqueous solution. We briefly discuss the key role of the protonation of the ketone in the photochemistry of these aromatic ketones.

Shell-isolated gold nanoparticles (SHINs) were employed to record shell-isolated nanoparticle-enhanced Raman spectra (SHINERS) of a passive layer formed at a gold surface during gold leaching from thiosulfate solutions. The (3-aminopropyl)triethoxysilane (APTES) and a sodium silicate solution were used to coat gold nanoparticles with a protective silica layer. This protective silica layer prevented interactions between the thiosulfate electrolyte and the gold core of the SHINs when the SHINs-modified gold electrode was immersed into the thiosulfate lixiviant. The SHINERS spectra of the passive layer, formed from thiosulfate decomposition, contained bands indicative of hydrolyzed APTES. We have demonstrated how to exploit the presence of these APTES bands as an internal standard to compensate for fluctuations of the surface enhancement of the electric field of the photon. We have also developed a procedure that allows for removal of the interfering APTES bands from the SHINERS spectra. These methodological advancements have enabled us to identify the species forming the passive layer and to determine that the formation of elemental sulfur, cyclo-S8, and polymeric sulfur chains is responsible for inhibition of gold dissolution in oxygen rich thiosulfate solutions.

Electrochemical methods are combined with shell-isolated nanoparticle-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (EC-SHINERS) for a comprehensive study of pyridine adsorption on Au(111), Au(100) and Au(110) single crystal electrode surfaces. The effects of crystallographic orientation, pyridine concentration, and applied potential are elucidated, and the formation of a second pyridine adlayer on Au(111) is observed spectroscopically for the first time. Electrochemical and SHINERS results correlate extremely well throughout this study, and we demonstrate the potential of EC-SHINERS for thorough characterization of processes occurring on single crystal surfaces. Our method is expected to open up many new possibilities in surface science, electrochemistry and catalysis. Analytical figures of merit are discussed.

Shell-isolated nanoparticle-enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SHINERS) has been proved to expand the versatility of surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS). It breaks the long limitation of SERS that only Au, Ag, Cu surface with nanostructure can exhibit huge Raman enhancement (with the averaged surface enhancement up to 106). SHINERS has been successfully used in single crystal electrochemistry, semiconductor surface and even the detection of pesticide from a fruit or vegetable surface. In the present review, we mainly focus on the use of SHINERS in electrochemistry by our group. The key for the SHINERS method is the synthesis of the core shell nanoparticles (SHINERS NPs). Different types of SHINERS NPs with different core, shell, size and shape are fully discussed and their applications in electrochemistry are also given.

The recently reported shell‐isolated nanoparticle‐enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SHINERS) is considered as the next generation of advanced spectroscopy for its surface and molecular generality. With the aim to utilize the virtues of shell‐isolated strategy and advance the SHINERS technique, we introduce a silane‐based rapid synthesis method of silica‐coating Au nanorods (Au@SiO 2 NRs) with manoeuvrable ultra‐thin shell and tunable SPR. The results demonstrate that the SPR of Au NRs could be optimized to obtain large Raman enhancement using either 633 nm or 785 nm laser. Differing from previously reported Au@SiO 2 NRs synthesis method, we can tune the silica shell thickness within several nanometers to maximize the Raman signal while effectively eliminating the exterior interference. And this advanced synthesis method has also significantly reduced the silica‐coating time from one day to ca. 1 h. This method as a new development of SHINERS technique has successfully got enhanced signal in solution Raman tests of malachite green, giving a great potential to be extended to in‐situ measurement for daily life detection. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) is a powerful fingerprint vibrational spectroscopy with a single-molecule detection limit, but its applications are generally restricted to 'free-electron–like' metal substrates such as Au, Ag and Cu nanostructures. We have invented a shell-isolated nanoparticle-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SHINERS) technique, using Au-core silica-shell nanoparticles (Au@SiO2 NPs), which makes SERS universally applicable to surfaces with any composition and any morphology. This protocol describes how to prepare shell-isolated nanoparticles (SHINs) with different well-controlled core sizes (55 and 120 nm), shapes (nanospheres, nanorods and nanocubes) and shell thicknesses (1–20 nm). It then describes how to apply SHINs to Pt and Au single-crystal surfaces with different facets in an electrochemical environment, on Si wafer surfaces adsorbed with hydrogen, on ZnO nanorods, and on living bacteria and fruit. With this method, SHINs can be prepared for use in ∼3 h, and each subsequent procedure for SHINERS measurement requires 1–2 h.

Au-seed Ag-growth nanoparticles of controllable diameter (50-100 nm), and having an ultrathin SiO2 shell of controllable thickness (2-3 nm), were prepared for shell-isolated nanoparticle-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SHINERS). Their morphological, optical, and material properties were characterized; and their potential for use as a versatile Raman signal amplifier was investigated experimentally using pyridine as a probe molecule and theoretically by the three-dimensional finite-difference time-domain (3D-FDTD) method. We show that a SiO2 shell as thin as 2 nm can be synthesized pinhole-free on the Ag surface of a nanoparticle, which then becomes the core. The dielectric SiO2 shell serves to isolate the Raman-signal enhancing core and prevent it from interfering with the system under study. The SiO2 shell also hinders oxidation of the Ag surface and nanoparticle aggregation. It significantly improves the stability and reproducibility of surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) signal intensity, which is essential for SERS applications. Our 3D-FDTD simulations show that Ag-core SHINERS nanoparticles yield at least 2 orders of magnitude greater enhancement than Au-core ones when excited with green light on a smooth Ag surface, and thus add to the versatility of our SHINERS method.

We report the visual detection of Al3+ using unlabeled gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) based on the complexation of Al3+ with citric acid, resulting in the aggregation of AuNPs. The distinction of color change can be observed by the naked eye at concentrations down to 1.0 μM which is lower than the permissable level (7.4 μM) for drinking water as defined by the World Health Organization.

Fairly monodisperse "dog bone" shaped gold nanorods were obtained clean and in high yield. Their average aspect ratio could be adjusted from similar to 2 to similar to 3 by altering the amount of silver nitrate present in the growth solution. They were coated with a uniform, ultrathin shell of silica and used to detect parathion pesticide on an orange peel by shell-isolated nanoparticle-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SHINERS).

We very recently reported a new spectroscopic application for expanding the versatility of surface Raman called "shell-isolated nanoparticle-enhanced Raman spectroscopy" or "SHINERS". The most important and most difficult part of the SHINERS experiment is the effective transfer of the strong electromagnetic field from a gold core through the isolating silica or alumina shell to the probed surface. For this it is essential that the chemically inert dielectric shell be ultrathin (2-5 nm) yet pinhole-free. Herein we describe experimental and theoretical aspects of our SHINERS method in more detail. We provide a protocol for the synthesis and characterization of optimized shell-isolated nanoparticles (SHINs), and we examine the advantages of SHINERS nanoparticles over bare gold nanoparticles. We also present high-quality Raman spectra obtained from gold and platinum single-crystal surfaces in an electrochemical environment by our SHINERS technique. SHINERS is a simple and cost-effective approach that expands the flexibility of surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) for an unprecedented diversity of applications in materials and surface sciences.

We report a new application of gold nanoparticles for visual detection of copper ions with high sensitivity and selectivity based on the colorimetric difference due to the strong and specific inhibition of Cu(NH3)(6)(2+) to the corrosion of gold nanoparticles at low concentration.