Enhanced plasmonic behavior of bimetallic (Ag-Au) multilayered spheres

Abstract

In this article we study the plasmonic behavior of some stable, highly biocompatible bimetallic metal-dielectric metal (MDM) and double concentric nanoshell (DCN) structures. By simply switching the material of the inner structure from Au to Ag, the intensity of their surface plasmon resonance could be increased in the optical transparency region of the human tissues up to 20 and 60 percent for the MDM and DCN, respectively, while the biocompatibility is retained. The obtained results indicate that these novel structures could be highly suitable for surface enhanced Raman scattering and photothermal cancer therapy. © 2011 Peña-Rodríguez and Pal.