From individual to collective chirality in metal nanoparticles

Recent reports have illustrated the promising potential of chiral metal nanostructures, which exploit the characteristic localized surface plasmon resonance of metal colloids, to produce intense optical activity. In this article we review the concepts, synthetic methods, and theoretical predictions underlying the chirality of metal colloids with a particular emphasis on the size range of 10–100 nanometers. The formation of individual colloidal nanoparticles with a chiral morphology and a plasmonic response remains elusive; however, collective chirality and the associated optical activity in nanoparticle assemblies is a promising alternative that has seen a few recent experimental demonstrations. We conclude with a perspective on chiral nanostructures built up from achiral anisotropic metal particles.

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► Overview of the study of optical activity and chirality in metal nanoparticles.
► Concepts, fabrication methods and theoretical predictions are described.
► Individual chirality in plasmonic nanoparticles is far, but collective optical activity has been demonstrated.
► Anisotropic nanoparticles perform better and should be further explored.