%0 Journal Article
%T Simulations of the Light Scattering Properties of Metal/Oxide Core/Shell Nanospheres
%A F. Ruffino
%A G. Piccitto
%A M. G. Grimaldi
%J Journal of Nanoscience
%D 2014
%R 10.1155/2014/407670
%X Given the importance of the optical properties of metal/dielectric core/shell nanoparticles, in this work we focus our attention on the light scattering properties, within the Mie framework, of some specific categories of these noteworthy nanostructures. In particular, we report theoretical results of angle-dependent light scattering intensity and scattering efficiency for Ag/Ag2O, Al/Al2O2, Cu/Cu2O, Pd/PdO, and Ti/TiO2 core/shell nanoparticles as a function of the core radius/shell thickness ratio and on a relative comparison. The results highlight the light scattering characteristics of these systems as a function of the radius/shell thickness ratio, helping in the choice of the more suitable materials and sizes for specific applications (i.e., dynamic light scattering for biological and molecular recognition, increasing light trapping in thin-film silicon, organic solar cells for achieving a higher photocurrent). 1. Introduction Metal nanoparticles (NPs) have been extensively studied in recent years due to their wide range of potential applications [1每11]. In particular, the increase in the local electric field produced by the localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) [1每4] is useful for several linear [12] and nonlinear [13, 14] optical processes. In fact, metal NPs can exhibit extraordinary optical resonances: when excited by electromagnetic radiation they can exhibit LSPR due to the collective oscillations of their conduction electrons [1每4]. The resonant excitation of LSPR leads to selective photon absorption and enhancement of local electromagnetic fields near the NPs by orders of magnitude. The possibility of controllably tuning the LSPR wavelength through the visible to near infrared region makes metal NPs very important and promising for the technological applications. In addition to their LSPR absorption, light scattering is another optical property of metal NPs that is of great interest [1每4, 15每18]. When NPs are illuminated with a beam of light at a wavelength ( ) that matches the plasmon absorption maxima ( ), the NPs can both absorb and scatter light outside of their physical cross-sections. So, also, dynamic light scattering by metal NPs is, today, widely used as a powerful tool in biological and molecular recognition [6, 7] and to increase the light trapping in thin-film silicon and organic solar cells for achieving a higher photocurrent [8每14] (Mie scattering [15每18] plays an essential role in increasing the optical path length). Scattering and plasmon optical properties, such as peak wavelength, full width at half maximum, and
%U http://www.hindawi.com/journals/jns/2014/407670/