• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.67-78
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• 2024

Light absorption has potential as a signal in biochemical analyses due to its simplicity in measurement and interpretational clarity. Among substances that generate absorption signals, gold nanoparticles possess advantages such as chemical stability, biological compatibility, and unique optical properties from the localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) in the visible light range. They also exhibit versatility compared to other colorimetric substances effective only for specific target molecules, as they easily conjugate with various detection active substances like antibodies and aptamers. Particularly due to advantages such as low cost, ease of particle synthesis, and high environmental stability compared to enzyme-based colorimetric methods, gold nanoparticles are extensively researched as signal substances in colorimetric assays. This review summarizes various strategies utilizing gold nanoparticles as absorption signal substances, focusing on recent research. Based on the characteristics of gold nanoparticles, where the optical property is influenced by particle morphology, literature is classified and reviewed based on strategies controlling the shape of gold nanoparticles during signal generation. Through this, it is observed that gold nanoparticles, which have been used as absorption signal substances, continue to be actively researched, affirming their potential for broad and continuous improvement in the future.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2014.02a
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• pp.493-493
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• 2014

The manufacturing cost of thin-film photovoltics can potentially be lowered by minimizing the amount of a semiconductor material used to fabricate devices. Thin-film solar cells are typically only a few micrometers thick, whereas crystalline silicon (c-Si) wafer solar cells are $180{\sim}300\mu}m$ thick. As such, thin-film layers do not fully absorb incident light and their energy conversion efficiency is lower compared with that of c-Si wafer solar cells. Therefore, effective light trapping is required to realize commercially viable thin-film cells, particularly for indirect-band-gap semiconductors such as c-Si. An emerging method for light trapping in thin film solar cells is the use of metallic nanostructures that support surface plasmons. Plasmon-enhanced light absorption is shown to increase the cell photocurrent in many types of solar cells, specifically, in c-Si thin-film solar cells and in poly-Si thin film solar cell. By proper engineering of these structures, light can be concentrated and coupled into a thin semiconductor layer to increase light absorption. In many cases, silver (Ag) nanoparticles (NP) are formed either on the front surface or on the rear surface on the cells. In case of poly-Si thin film solar cells, Ag NPs are formed on the rear surface of the cells due to longer wavelengths are not perfectly absorbed in the active layer on the first path. In our cells, shorter wavelengths typically 300~500 nm are also not effectively absorbed. For this reason, a new concept of plasmonic nanostructure which is NPs formed both the front - and the rear - surface is worth testing. In this simulation Al NPs were located onto glass because Al has much lower parasitic absorption than other metal NPs. In case of Ag NP, it features parasitic absorption in the optical frequency range. On the other hand, Al NP, which is non-resonant metal NP, is characterized with a higher density of conduction electrons, resulting in highly negative dielectric permittivity. It makes them more suitable for the forward scattering configuration. In addition to this, Ag NP is located on the rear surface of the cell. Ag NPs showed good performance enhancement when they are located on the rear surface of our cells. In this simulation, Al NPs are located on glass and Ag NP is located on the rear Si surface. The structure for the simulation is shown in figure 1. Figure 2 shows FDTD-simulated absorption graphs of the proposed and reference structures. In the simulation, the front of the cell has Al NPs with 70 nm radius and 12.5% coverage; and the rear of the cell has Ag NPs with 157 nm in radius and 41.5% coverage. Such a structure shows better light absorption in 300~550 nm than that of the reference cell without any NPs and the structure with Ag NP on rear only. Therefore, it can be expected that enhanced light absorption of the structure with Al NP on front at 300~550 nm can contribute to the photocurrent enhancement.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.869-872
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• 2009

Double-doped magnetic particles that incorporated magnetites into both the surface and inside the silica cores were fabricated via the sol-gel reaction of citrate-stabilized magnetites with silicon alkoxide. Double-doped magnetic particles were easily fabricated and exhibited an higher magnetism in comparison to the singledoped magnetic particles that were prepared by the erosion of surface-deposited magneties from double-doped magentic particles. Thin gold layer was formed over magnetic silica nanospheres via nanoseed-mediated growth of gold clusters. The plasmon-derived absorption bands of double-doped magnetic silica-gold nanoshells were more broadened and shifted down by ca. 20 nm as compared to those of single-doped magnetic silicagold nanoshells, which were attributed to not only the surface scattering of incident light due to relatively rough surafce morphology, but also heterogeneous permittivity of dielectric cores due to surface-deposited magnetites.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2011.08a
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• pp.76-76
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• 2011

Polymer-fullerene based bulk heterojunction (BHJ) solar cells can be fabricated in large area using low-cost roll-to-roll manufacturing methods. However, because of the low mobility of the BHJ materials, there is competition between the sweep-out of the photogenerated carriers by the built-in potential and recombination within the thin BHJ film [12-15]. Useful film thicknesses are limited by recombination. Thus, there is a need to increase the absorption by the BHJ film without increasing film thickness. Metal nanoparticles exhibit localized surface plasmon resonances (LSPR) which couple strongly to the incident light. In addition, relatively large metallic nanoparticles can reflect and scatter the light and thereby increase the optical path length within the BHJ film. Thus, the addition of metal nanoparticles into BHJ films offers the possibility of enhanced absorption and correspondingly enhanced photo-generation of mobile carriers. In this work, we have demonstrated several positive effects of shape controlled Au and Ag nanoparticles in organic P3HT/PC70BM, PCDTBT/PC70BM, Si-PCPDTBT/PC70BM BHJ-based PV devices. The use of an optimized concentration of Au and Ag nanomaterials in the BHJ film increases Jsc, FF, and the IPCE. These improvements result from a combination of enhanced light absorption caused by the light scattering of the nanomaterials in an active layer. Some of the metals induce the plasmon light concentration at specific wavelength. Moreover, improved charge transport results in low series resistance.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2013.02a
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• pp.225-225
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• 2013

Nanostructured noble metals have been attractive for their unusual optical properties and are widely utilized for various purposes. The optical properties mainly originating from collective electron oscillation can assist direct energy conversion via surface plasmon resonances. Here, we investigated the effect of surface plasmons of silver nanowires on the generation of hot electrons. It is reported that the surface plasmons of silver nanowires exhibit longitudinal and transverse modes, depending on the aspect ratio of the nanowires. In order to measure the hot electron flow through the metallic nanowires, chemically modified Au/TiO2 Schottky diodes were employed as the electric contact. The silver nanowires were deposited on a Au metal layer via the spray method to control uniformity and the amount of silver nanowire deposited. We measured the hot electron flow generated by photon absorption on the silver nanowires deposited on the Au/TiO2 Schottky diodes. The incident photon-to-current efficiency was measured a function of the photon energy, revealing two polarization modes of siliver nanowires: transverse and longitudinal modes. UV-Vis spectra exhibited two polarization modes, which are also consistent with the photocurrent measurements. Good correlation between the IPCE and UV-vis measurements suggests that hot electron measurement on nanowires on nanodiodes is a useful way to reveal the intrinsic properties of surface plasmons of nanowires.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.32 no.12
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• pp.4171-4175
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• 2011

Bio-functionalized gold nanoparticles (AuNPs), which bio-specifically interact with biotin-(strept)avidin, were investigated in this study. AuNPs were functionalized with a synthetically-provided biotin-linked thiol (BLT), which was synthesized by amidation of the active ester of biotin with 2-mercaptoethylamine. The BLT-attached AuNP was bio-specific for streptavidin, making it potentially useful for biosensor applications. To test the bio-specific interactions, the colors, absorption spectra and TEM images were investigated for proteins such as streptavidin, cytochrome C, myoglobin and hemoglobin. The colors and absorption spectra changed when streptavidin was added to the BLT-attached AuNP solution. However, the color and spectra did not change when the other proteins were added to the same solution. These results show that the AuNPs provided a colloidal solution with excellent stability and highly selective absorption characteristics for streptavidin as a target molecule. Proteins were also screened in order to identify a general strategy for the use of optical biosensing proteins based on AuNPs. In addition, TEM images confirmed that streptavidin led the BLT-attached AuNPs to aggregate or precipitate.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.34-39
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• 2018

In this study, e-beam equipment was used to form silver nanoparticles on thin films of $TiO_2$ to increase the efficiency of dye-sensitized solar cells and improve the annealing process. $TiO_2$ thin films with nanoparticle photoelectrodes were fabricated in individual units for use in dye-sensitized solar cells. The characteristics of dye-sensitized solar cells were compared to those of the prepared $TiO_2$ photoelectrode with and without nanoparticles. The dye-sensitized solar cells with silver nanoparticles showed a significant increase in the electric current density compared with the pure $TiO_2$ dye-sensitized solar cell and improved the solar conversion efficiency to 27.89%. The increased density of electric current increased the extent of light absorption of the dye owing to the plasmon resonance of the nanoparticles at the local surfaces. This phenomenon led to increased light scattering, which in turn increased the current density of the dye-sensitized solar cells and improved the solar conversion efficiency.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.865-870
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• 2014

Gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) were synthesized by laser (Nd:YAG, ${\lambda}$ = 1064 nm) ablation of a gold target immersed in various aqueous electrolyte solutions (7 mM of LiCl, NaCl, KCl, NaBr, and NaI) as well as in deionized water. The surface plasmon absorption and EDX of AuNPs so produced as well as their TEM images were analyzed to investigate the effects of ambient ions on the growth and aggregation of NPs. The size of AuNPs was reduced by laser ablation in the presence of chloride and bromide ions while it increased drastically when AuNPs were formed in iodide solution. Interestingly, triangular nanoplates were synthesized only in iodide solution. Surface chemistry on AuNPs in various electrolyte solutions was explored to elucidate the role of ions on the size and stability of AuNPs.

• Journal of the Society of Cosmetic Scientists of Korea
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• v.41 no.1
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• pp.27-34
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• 2015

Many applications of nanoparticles have been developed since 1970s. Surface plasmon resonance (SPR) effect can be generated at the surface of nanoparticles by illumination. SPR is the resonant oscillation of conduction electrons at the surface material stimulated by incident light. The collisions between excited electrons and metal atoms can cause the production of thermal energy (photothermal effect). Here, we presented the development of thermo-cosmetics using photothermal effect of gold nanoparticles. Gold nanoparticles (GNPs) were chosen for it's low toxicity. We also and investigated the cell biocompatibility and heating effectiveness for photothermal effect of GNPs. Synthesized GNPs were verified by UV-vis spectrophotometer, where GNP has a characteristic absorbance spectrum. Concentration of GNP was measured by atomic absorption analyzer. The cytotoxicity was confirmed by MTT assay and double staining assay. Photothermal effect of GNP was demonstrated by the thermal increasing properties depending on GNP concentration, which was taken by an IR-thermal camera with a xenon lamp as the light source. If the thermal effect of GNP is applied for thermo-cosmetics, it can supply heat to skin by converting solar energy into thermal energy. Thus, cosmetics containing GNPs can provide benefits to people in the cold region or winter season for maintaining skin temperature, which lead to a positive effect on skin health.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2008.06a
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• pp.76-76
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• 2008

The resonance properties due to the surface plasmon(SP) excitation of metal nanoparticles make the nanocomposite films promising for various applications such as optical switching devices. In spite of the well-known ultra-sensitive operation of optical switches based on a guided wave, the application of nanocomposite film(NC) has inherent limitation originating from the excessive optical loss related with the surface plasmon resonance(SPR). In this study, we addressed this problem and present the experimental and theoretical analysis on the pump-probe optical switching in prism-coupled Au(1 vol.%):$SiO_2$ nanocomposite waveguide film. The guided mode was successfully generated using a near infrared probe beam of 1550 nm and modulated with an external pump beam of 532 nm close to the SPR wavelength. We extend our approach to ultra-fast operation using a pulsed laser with 5 ns pulse width. To improve the switching speed through the reduction in thermal loading effect accompanied by the resonant absorption of pump beam light, we adopted a metallic film as a coupling layer instead of low-index dielectric layer between the high-index SF10 prism and NC slab waveguide. We observed great enhancement in switching speed for the case of using metallic coupling layer, and founded a distinct difference in origin of optical nonlinearities induced during switching operation using cw and ns laser.