Magister Philosophiae - MPhil / The fascinating optical properties of metallic nanostructures, dominated by collective
oscillations of free electrons known as plasmons, open new opportunities for the
development of devices fabrication based on noble metal nanoparticle composite
materials. This thesis demonstrates a low-cost and versatile technique to produce
stimuli-responsive ultrafast plasmonic nanostructures with reversible tunable optical
properties. Albeit challenging, further control using thermal external stimuli to tune the
local environment of gold nanoparticles embedded in V02 host matrix would be ideal
for the design of responsive functional nanocomposites. We prepared Au-V02
nanocomposite thin films by the inverted cylindrical reactive magnetron sputtering
(ICMS) known as hollow cathode magnetron sputtering for the first time and report the
reversible tuning of surface plasmon resonance of Au nanoparticles by only adjusting
the external temperature stimuli. The structural, morphological, interfacial analysis and
optical properties of the optimized nanostructures have been studied. ICMS has been
attracting much attention for its enclosed geometry and its ability to deposit on large
area, uniform coating of smart nanocomposites at high deposition rate. Before
achieving the aforementioned goals, a systematic study and optimization process of
V02 host matrix has been done by studying the influence of deposition parameters on
the structural, morphological and optical switching properties of V02 thin films. A
reversible thermal tunability of the optical/dielectric constants of V02 thin films by
spectroscopic ellipsometry has been intensively also studied in order to bring more
insights about the shift of the plasmon of gold nanoparticles imbedded in V02 host
matrix.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:uwc/oai:etd.uwc.ac.za:11394/8807 |
| Date | January 2010 |
| Creators | Kama Kama, Jean Bosco |
| Contributors | Maaza, M, Knoesen, D |
| Publisher | University of the Western Cape |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | University of the Western Cape |
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