Characterization of surface plasmon energy transduction in gold nanoparticle/polymer composites by photo-DSC

In this study, we investigate the formulation and optimization of stimulus-responsive composites consisting of gold nanoparticles in polyethylene glycol diacrylate (PEGDA) matrices, which can be remotely heated through localized surface plasmon resonance (SPR). In these materials, laser radiation is absorbed by the nanoparticles and transduced into thermal energy. Optothermal properties of the polymer/nanoparticle composites are characterized using an adaptation of photo-differential scanning calorimetry (photo-DSC), in which a sample is characterized in isothermal mode in the presence and absence of optical illumination. Au/PEGDA composite samples are determined by photo-DSC to transduce energy from a 532 nm optical source with high efficiencies (>80%). UV/Vis/NIR spectrophotometry is used to characterize the optical properties of the samples. Nanoparticle dispersion and size within composite polymer matrices are characterized using transmission electron microscopy (TEM). It is shown that the magnitude and rate of energy transduction can be tuned by varying both nanoparticle concentration and dispersion.