Dewetted gold nanoparticles on ZnO nanorods for three-dimensionally distributed plasmonic hot spots

We report the importance of a three-dimensional plasmonic nanostructure for the increased spatial distribution of plasmonic hot spots, and its effective and high-throughput fabrication via a dewetting process. Gold is thermally vapor deposited on zinc oxide nanorods. Dewetted gold nanoparticles are self-assembled on the top and sides of the ZnO nanorods, thus creating three-dimensionally dispersed plasmonic probes. The size of the dewetted nanoparticles is tuned by varying the gold thickness. Localized surface plasmon resonance became red-shifted as the size of the gold nanoparticles increased.