Plasmonics in Chemistry and Biology

Over the past decade, plasmonic nanoparticles have been the subject of extensive research, owing to their remarkable optical properties. These properties arise from a collective oscillation of the conductive electrons at the nanoparticle surface under light irradiation, known as localized surface plasmon (LSP). LSP is characterized by (i) a strong absorption and scattering of the light depending on the geometrical parameters of the nanoparticles and (ii) a strong amplification of the local field in the vicinity of the nanoparticles.

Quite recently, it was shown that the activation and the initiation of chemical reactions or physical processes can be facilitated using LSP excitation. Such exploitation presents two main advantages: an enhanced yield and a fine control of chemical reactions at the nanoscale. These topics have become very active and are in line with molecular plasmonics. This book explores this new field and provides a broad view on the exploitation of plasmonics in chemical and biological fields.

Plasmon-Driven Surface Functionalization of Gold Nanoparticles. Concept and Development of Multi-Functional Hybrid Systems: Photoswitchable and Thermotunable Plasmonic Materials. Reversible Adsorption of Biomolecules on Thermosensitive Polymer-Coated Plasmonic Nanostructures. Reactivity and Bio Samples Probed by Tip-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy. Surface-Enhanced Spectro-Electro-Chemistry of Biological and Molecular Catalysts on Plasmonic Electrodes. Fluorescence Spectroscopy Enhancement on Photonic Nanoantennas. Plasmonic-Based SERS Traceable Drug Nanocarriers in Cancer Theranostics. Label-Free SERS Detection of Heme-Proteins with Porous Silver Nanocubes. Observation of Biomolecules and Their Dynamics in SERS. Intracellular SERS. SERS-Based Nanotechnology for Imaging of Cellular Properties.

Marc Lamy de la Chapelle received his PhD in science physics in 1998 from the University of Nantes, France. After holding postdoctoral positions at the Office National d'Etude et de Recherche en Aéronautique, Paris (1998–2000) and the Department of Physics of Tsinghua University, China (2000–2001), he joined the Université de Technologie de Troyes in 2001 as an associate professor.

M. Nordin Félidj is professor at Université Paris Diderot, France, leader of the “Molecular Plasmonics, Surface Enhanced Spectroscopies” group, and vice-director of the French institute GDR CNRS “Plasmonique moléculaire, spectroscopies exaltées de surface.”