Abstract
Absorption and luminescence properties of silver nanoclusters embedded in SiO2 matrixes were studied experimentally. Thin SiO2 films with different amount of silver were produced by co-deposition of Ag and SiO2 onto the silica substrates in vacuum. The thus obtained films possess three peaks in absorption spectra at 297, 329 and 401 nm and two peaks in luminescence spectra at about 500 and 650 nm. We ascribed these spectral features to silver nanoclusters of different sizes that present in the film. Thermal annealing transforms both absorption and emission spectra of the films. Lager clusters that are formed after annealing possess one absorption band at 350–450 nm and one luminescence band at 510 nm. The luminescence was observed only in samples with the silver content of less than 2.2%. Quenching of the luminescence in samples with higher concentration of silver is due to the presence of larger particles with plasmonic properties.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bogdanchikova, N.E., Petranovskii, V.P., Machorro, R., Sugi, Y., Soto, V.M., Fuentes, S.: Stability of silver clusters in mordenites with different SiO2/Al2O3 molar ratio. Appl. Surf. Sci. 150, 58–64 (1999). doi:10.1016/S0169-4332(99)00223-8
Burda, C., Chen, X.B., Narayanan, R., El-Sayed, M.A.: Chemistry and properties of nanocrystals of different shapes. Chem. Rev. 105, 1025–1102 (2005). doi:10.1021/cr030063a
Cai, W., Hofmeister, H., Rainer, T., Chen, W.: Optical properties of Ag and Au nanoparticles dispersed within the pores of monolithic mesoporous silica. J. Nanopart. Res. 3, 443–453 (2001)
Chen, W., Wang, Z.G., Lin, L.Y., Lin, J.H., Su, M.Z.: Photostimulated luminescence of silver clusters in zeolite-Y. Phys. Lett. A 232, 391–394 (1997). doi:10.1016/S0375-9601(97)00400-3
Choi, S., Dicksonc, R.M., Yu, J.: Developing luminescent silver nanodots for biological applications. Chem. Soc. Rev. 41, 1867–1891 (2012). doi:10.1039/c1cs15226b
Dubrovin, V.D., Ignatiev, A.I., Nikonorov, N.V., Sidorov, A.I., Shakhverdov, T.A., Agafonova, D.S.: Luminescence of silver molecular clusters in photo-thermo-refractive glasses. Opt. Mater. 36, 753–759 (2014). doi:10.1016/j.optmat.2013.11.018
Gladskikh, I.A., Vartanyan, T.A.: Metal clusters and nanoparticles in dielectric matrices: formation and optical properties. Opt. Spectrosc. 121, 851–855 (2016). doi:10.1134/S0030400X16120109
Grigoryan, V.G., Springborg, M., Minassian, H., Melikyan, A.: Optical properties of silver and copper clusters with up to 150 atoms. Comput. Theor Chem 1021, 197–205 (2013). doi:10.1016/j.comptc.2013.07.022
Harb, M., Rabilloud, F., Simon, D., Rydlo, A., Lecoultre, S., Conus, F., Rodrigues, V., Felix, C.: Optical absorption of small silver clusters: Ag(n), (n = 4–22). J. Chem. Phys. 129, 194108 (2008). doi:10.1063/1.3013557
Harbich, W., Fedrigo, S., Buttet, J.: The optical absorption spectra of small silver clusters (n = 5–11) embedded in argon matrices. Chem. Phys. Lett. 195, 613–617 (1992). doi:10.1016/0009-2614(92)85572-R
Kelly, K.L., Coronado, E., Zhao, L.L., Schatz, G.C.: The optical properties of metal nanoparticles: the influence of size, shape, and dielectric environment. J. Phys. Chem. B 107, 668–677 (2003). doi:10.1021/jp026731y
Leonov, N.B., Gladskikh, I.A., Polishchuk, V.A., Vartanyan, T.A.: Evolution of the optical properties and morphology of thin metal films during growth and annealing. Opt. Spectrosc. 119, 450–455 (2015). doi:10.1134/S0030400X15090179
Linnert, T., Mulvaney, P., Henglein, A., Weller, H.: Long-lived nonmetallic silver clusters in aqueous solution: preparation and photolysis. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 112, 4657–4664 (1990). doi:10.1021/ja00168a005
Rabin, I., Schulze, W., Ertl, G., Felix, C., Sieber, C., Harbich, W., Buttet, J.: Absorption and fluorescence spectra of Ar-matrix-isolated Ag-3 clusters. Chem. Phys. Lett. 320, 59–64 (2000). doi:10.1016/S0009-2614(00)00211-6
Yeshchenko, O.A., Dmitruk, I.M., Alexeenko, A.A., Losytskyy, MYu., Kotko, A.V., Pinchuk, A.O.: Size-dependent surface-plasmon-enhanced photoluminescence from silver nanoparticles embedded in silica. Phys. Rev. B 79, 235438 (2009). doi:10.1103/PhysRevB.79.235438
Acknowledgements
The reported study was funded by RFBR, according to the research Project No. 16-32-60028 mol_a_dk, by Ministry of Education and Science (Project 2014/190) and by the Government of Russia (Grant 074-U01).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
This article is part of the Topical Collection on Fundamentals of Laser Assisted Micro- and Nanotechnologies.
Guest edited by Eugene Avrutin, Vadim Veiko, Tigran Vartanyan and Andrey Belikov.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Gladskikh, I.A., Gladskikh, P.V. & Vartanyan, T.A. Absorption and photoluminescence properties of silver clusters in SiO2 matrix. Opt Quant Electron 49, 41 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11082-016-0872-8
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11082-016-0872-8