Environmental optical sensitivity of gold nanodecahedra

The sensitivity of localized surface plasmon resonances with respect to changes in the refractive index of the surrounding medium is measured for small (<60 nm side length) and large (ca. 150 nm side length) regular gold nanodecahedra (pentagonal bipyramids), and compared to rigorous solutions of Maxwell's equations for bicones based upon the boundary element method (BEM). Small particles are prepared through ultrasound-induced reduction of HAuCl4 by N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF) on presynthesized penta-twinned Au seeds, whereas large decahedra are grown using smaller ones as seeds. Excellent agreement between experimental and calculated spectra is found for dispersions and monolayers of particles in different solvents, as well as for the effect of uniform silica layers of various thicknesses grown on them. These results are expected to be useful for the development of novel biosensors.