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. 2016 Nov 22:6:37190.
doi: 10.1038/srep37190.

As-grown graphene/copper nanoparticles hybrid nanostructures for enhanced intensity and stability of surface plasmon resonance

Yun-Fei Li  1 , Feng-Xi Dong  1 , Yang Chen  1 , Xu-Lin Zhang  1 , Lei Wang  1 , Yan-Gang Bi  1 , Zhen-Nan Tian  1 , Yue-Feng Liu  1 , Jing Feng  1 , Hong-Bo Sun  1   2
Affiliations

As-grown graphene/copper nanoparticles hybrid nanostructures for enhanced intensity and stability of surface plasmon resonance

Yun-Fei Li et al. Sci Rep. .

Abstract

The transfer-free fabrication of the high quality graphene on the metallic nanostructures, which is highly desirable for device applications, remains a challenge. Here, we develop the transfer-free method by direct chemical vapor deposition of the graphene layers on copper (Cu) nanoparticles (NPs) to realize the hybrid nanostructures. The graphene as-grown on the Cu NPs permits full electric contact and strong interactions, which results in a strong localization of the field at the graphene/copper interface. An enhanced intensity of the localized surface plasmon resonances (LSPRs) supported by the hybrid nanostructures can be obtained, which induces a much enhanced fluorescent intensity from the dye coated hybrid nanostructures. Moreover, the graphene sheets covering completely and uniformly on the Cu NPs act as a passivation layer to protect the underlying metal surface from air oxidation. As a result, the stability of the LSPRs for the hybrid nanostructures is much enhanced compared to that of the bare Cu NPs. The transfer-free hybrid nanostructures with enhanced intensity and stability of the LSPRs will enable their much broader applications in photonics and optoelectronics.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Schematic illustrations of fabrication sequences for the as-grown graphene/Cu NPs hybrid nanostructures. (a,b) Deposition of the Cu film on the quartz substrate. (c) Thermal annealing of the Cu film. (d) Deposition of the graphene on the Cu NPs.
Figure 2
Figure 2
(a,b) SEM images and HRTEM images (the inset figures) of Cu NPs with and without graphene as protective layers, respectively. (c,d) Size distributions of as-grown graphene/Cu NPs hybrid nanostructures and bare Cu NPs. (e) Normal Raman spectrum of graphene after removing Cu cores.
Figure 3
Figure 3
(a) Steady-state optical absorption spectra versus wavelength for the Cu NPs coated with various numbers of graphene layers. (b) Simulated reflection spectra of Cu NPs coated with various numbers of graphene layers.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Simulated electrical field distributions for the bare Cu NP (a) and as-grown graphene/Cu NP hybrid nanostructure (b). (c) Cross-section plots for total electric fields of Cu NP along the red dot line in (a,b) with (green) and without (black) graphene layer, respectively.
Figure 5
Figure 5. Fluorescence spectra of DCM dye on quartz substrate, graphene films, bare Cu NPs, and as-grown graphene/Cu NPs hybrid nanostructures, respectively.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Time evolution of the absorption spectra of graphene-coated (a) and uncoated (b) Cu NPs.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Time evolution of the XPS core-level Cu2p spectra (a) and photograph images (b) of graphene/Cu NPs hybrid nanostructures and bare Cu NPs before and after thermal treatment at 200 °C for 4 hours.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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