Synthesis and Optical Responses of Ag@Au/Ag@Au Double Shells

We synthesize hollow-structured Ag@Au nanoparticles with single porous shell and Ag@Au/Ag@Au double shells by using the galvanic replacement reaction and investigate their linear and nonlinear optical properties. Our results show that the surface plasmon resonance wavelength of the hollow porous nanoparticles could be easily tuned in a wide range in the visible and near infrared region by controlling the volume of HAuCl₄. The nonlinear optical refraction of the double-shelled Ag@Au/Ag@Au nanoparticles is prominently enhanced by the plasmon resonance. Our findings may find applications in biosensors and nonlinear optical nanodevices.