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nanotimes News in Brief
12-01 :: January 2012
© Svetlana V. Boriskina
dielectric microspheres where the fields associated with the plasmonic modes can synergistically inter- act with the evanescent fields of the WGMs.
They characterized the far-field scattering spectra of discrete optoplasmonic molecules that comprised two coupled 2.048μm diameter polystyrene micro- spheres each encircled by four 148nm diameter Au nanoparticles (NPs), through far-field scattering spectroscopy. They observed a broadening of the TE and TM modes in the scattering spectra of the opto- plasmonic dimers indicative of an efficient photo- nic–plasmonic mode coupling between the coupled photonic modes of the WGM resonators and the localized surface plasmon modes of the NPs. © ACS Nano
Wonmi Ahn, Svetlana V. Boriskina, Yan Hong, and Björn M. Reinhard: Photonic-Plasmonic Mode Coupling in On-Chip Integrated Optoplasmonic Molecules, In: ACS Nano, Vol. 6(2012), No. 1, Pages 951-960, DOI:10.1021/ nn204577v:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/nn204577v
University of Illinois materials scientists Jennifer Lewis and S. Brett Walker have developed a new reactive silver ink for printing high-performance electronics on ubiquitous, low-cost materials such as flexible plastic, paper or fabric substrates. Most conductive inks rely on tiny metal particles suspen- ded in the ink. The new ink is a transparent solution of silver acetate and ammonia. The silver remains dissolved in the solution until it is printed, and the liquid evaporates, yielding conductive features.
“It dries and reacts quickly, which allows us to im- mediately deposit silver as we print,” Walker said.
The reactive ink has several advantages over particle-based inks. It is much faster to make: A batch takes minutes to mix, according to Walker, whereas particle-based inks take several hours and multiple steps to prepare. The ink also is stable for several weeks. The reactive silver ink also can print