Morphology dependent two photon absorption in plasmonic structures and plasmonic-organic hybrids

Two photon absorption coefficients of two distinct plasmonic structures, namely, gold nanoflowers (GNF) and gold nanopebbles (GNP) have been investigated and compared with conventional gold nanospheres (GNS). All three different nanoshapes were synthesized by changing the reaction solvent under the same experimental procedure. Further, hybrids of these plasmonic structures were prepared with an organic dye Eosin yellow (EY), to investigate the morphology effect of plasmonic structures on plasmonic-organic hybrids in terms of their linear extinction spectra and two photon absorption coefficients. The NLO investigations were conducted using 20 ps laser pulses of wavelength 532 nm as an excitation source in single beam Z-scan setup. UV/visible spectroscopy was employed for monitoring plasmon resonances and changes in linear extinction spectra. The experimental outcomes revealed two photon absorption coefficients of EY increased 120%, 32% and 39%, while 69%, 60% and 53% enhancement in the peaks of linear extinction maxima of EY has been observed, when hybridized with GNF, GNS and GNP, respectively. This boost in the optical coefficients may be attributed to dimerization of EY molecules on the surface of nanoparticles. Keeping the toxicity of EY in view, we propose that the two photon absorption coefficients of this dye and control thereof, by the addition of plasmonic structures would be helpful not only in understanding the interactions between plasmons and fluorophore, but also pave an efficient way, to reduce the operative concentration of this hazardous dye in a wide range of applications and thereby, mitigating the environmental degradation caused by its highly concentrated effluents.