Plasmon and compositional mapping of plasmonic nanostructures

Recently, co-reduction of Au and Pd has allowed the synthesis of complex Au core/AuPd shell nanoparticles with elongated tips and cubic-like symmetry. Optical studies have shown strong plasmonic behavior and high refractive index sensitivities. In this paper, we describe the composition and the near-field plasmonic behavior of those complex structures. Monochromated STEM-EELS, Cathodoluminescence, and EDS mapping reveals the different resonant modes in these particles, and shows that Pd, a poor plasmonic metal, does not prevent strong resonances and could actually be extremely helpful for plasmon-enhanced catalysis.