New publication in ACS Nano
Supramolecular Organic Nanowires as Plasmonic Interconnects
The prospect of manipulating light with nanometer-scale (sub-wavelength) precision by coupling electromagnetic fields with small oscillations of surface free electrons in metals has driven the field of plasmonics for more than two decades. In our article published in ACS Nano, we demonstrate for the first time that organic nanowires can couple plasmonic modes of oscillations between metallic nanoparticles. Using supramolecular triarylamine nanowires (STANWs), with a core diameter of about 1 nm, we succeed to connect gold nanoparticles separated by a distance of ≈100 nm. Although STANWs are self-assembled from purely organic molecules, they display free metallic electrons when doped by photo-irradiation. Based on this very unique characteristic, we show that STANWs behave as subwavelength plasmonic interconnects resulting in an exceptional enhancement of the optical conductivity of the hybrid metamaterial. The replacement of metals (or inorganic semiconductors) by organic materials opens new ways of thinking about plasmonics as well as new avenues for building plasmonic devices, especially when these organic components can be constructed by a spontaneous bottom-up process.
Supramolecular Organic Nanowires as Plasmonic Interconnects
Armao, J. J. ; Domoto, Y. ; Umehara, T.; Maaloum, M. ; Contal, C.; Fuks, G. ; Moulin, E. ; Decher, G. ; Javahiraly, N. ; Giuseppone, N.
ACS Nano 2016, 10, DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.5b06294