The monodisperse Au@Ag bimetallic nanorod is encapsulated by crosslinked poly( N-isopropylacrylamide)( PNIPAM) to produce thermo-responsive composite microgel with well-defined core-shell structure( Au@ Ag NR@ PNIPAM microgel)by seed-precipitation polymerization method using butenoic acid modified Au @ Ag NRs as seeds. When the temperature of the aqueous medium increases from 20℃ to 50℃,the localized surface plasmon resonance( LSPR) band of the entrapped Au @ Ag NR is pronouncedly red-shifted because of the decreased spatial distances between them as a result of shrinkage of the microgels,leading to their plasmonic coupling. The temperature tunable plasmonic coupling is demonstrated by temperature dependence of the surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy( SERS) signal of 1-naphthol in aqueous solution. Different from static plasmonic coupling modes from nanostructured assembly or array system of noble metals,the proposed plasmonic coupling can be dynamically controlled by environmental temperature. Therefore, the thermo responsive hybrid microgels have potential applications in mobile LSPR or SERS microsensors for living tissues or cells.
The monodisperse Au@Ag bimetallic nanorod is encapsulated by crosslinked poly( N-isopropylacrylamide)( PNIPAM) to produce thermo-responsive composite microgel with well-defined core-shell structure( Au@ Ag NR@ PNIPAM microgel)by seed-precipitation polymerization method using butenoic acid modified Au @ Ag NRs as seeds. When the temperature of the aqueous medium increases from 20℃ to 50℃,the localized surface plasmon resonance( LSPR) band of the entrapped Au @ Ag NR is pronouncedly red-shifted because of the decreased spatial distances between them as a result of shrinkage of the microgels,leading to their plasmonic coupling. The temperature tunable plasmonic coupling is demonstrated by temperature dependence of the surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy( SERS) signal of 1-naphthol in aqueous solution. Different from static plasmonic coupling modes from nanostructured assembly or array system of noble metals,the proposed plasmonic coupling can be dynamically controlled by environmental temperature. Therefore, the thermo responsive hybrid microgels have potential applications in mobile LSPR or SERS microsensors for living tissues or cells.