Structure and Spectroscopy of Buried Interfaces in Organic Thin Films and Colloids.

摘要

A major accomplishment of this project has been that we have resolved nearly all the fundamental problems and demonstrated Second Harmonic Generation as an effective and versatile method for characterizing the solid- liquid interfaces of micron to nanometer size particles buried deep in colloids. We have shown for the first time that SHG from the surface of silver nanoparticles can be detected, and through monitoring the second harmonic light scattering we can determine the mechanism and rates of reactions occurring at the nanoparticle surface. During this process we have found a method to increase the fluorescence quantum efficiency of metallic nanoparticles by orders of magnitude. The results from this project will facilitate the usage of nanoparticles in sensor technology in general and in biomedical imaging.