Tailoring optical cross sections of gold nanorods at a target plasmonic resonance wavelength using bromosalicylic acid

In many applications, the optical cross sections of gold nanorods (AuNRs) are required to be tailored at a fixed target longitudinal surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) wavelength depending on the excitation source and the photodetector. In this work, we demonstrate the fine tailoring of optical cross sections of AuNRs at a fixed target resonance wavelength, on the basis of AuNR overgrowth using a binary surfactant mixture consisting of 5-bromosalicylic acid (BSA) and cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB). A systematic study was performed on the sum effects of the BSA concentration and the volume of the growth solution, which gives a formula for quantitative instructions. Based on the formula, we gave examples for the successful synthesis of AuNRs with different optical cross sections at target LSPR wavelengths. From simulation, a nonlinear relationship was further derived to understand the relationship between the aspect ratio and the width of the AuNRs at a target LSPR wavelength for the dimension design of AuNRs. The ratio of optical against physical cross sections was calculated and plotted as a function of the width. The results clearly indicate that AuNRs with a width of 30 nm possess the highest efficiency in terms of optical per physical cross section. Our study provides reliable methods for the synthesis, as well as guidelines for the dimension design of AuNRs, for use in a variety of applications.