Silver and gold films with thicknesses in the range of 120-450 nm were evaporated onto glass substrates. A sequence of slits with widths varying between 70 and 270 nm was milled in the films using a focused gallium ion beam. We have undertaken high-resolution measurements of the optical transmission through the single slits with 488.0 nm (for Ag) and 632.8 nm (for Au) laser sources aligned to t...

Humans are able to categorize an infinite variety of surface colors into a small number of color terms. Previous studies have shown that 11 basic color terms are commonly used in fully developed languages. These studies usually used flat matte color plates as stimuli, but we can also perceive the colors of glossy surfaces by discounting the effect of the gloss. However, color terms such as GOLD...

BBlnternational Cationic Gold allows highly sensitive and discrete microscopical studies of anionic sites in and on cells and tissues. A simple one step incubation of sections with the diluted gold conjugate at the correct pH reveals subcellular sites having net negative charge. The charge distribution may be examined with clear definition at a range of magnifications in the electron microscope...

Silver nanoparticles offer highly attractive properties for many applications, however concern has been raised over the possible toxicity of this material in environmental systems. While it is thought that the release of Ag(+) can play a crucial role in this toxicity, the mechanism by which the oxidative dissolution of nano-silver occurs is not yet understood. Here we address this through the e...

Here, we report that hybrid multilayered plasmonic nanostars can be universally used as feedback agents for coherent random lasing in polar or nonpolar solutions containing gain material. We show that silver-enhancement of gold nanostars reduces the pumping threshold for coherent random lasing substantially for both a typical dye (R6G) and a typical fluorescent polymer (MEH-PPV). Further, we re...

Oxidation of sulfide-containing ores is the main cause of Acid Mine Drainage (AMD), which is an environmental problem associated with both the abandoned and active mines. Iron-bearing sulfide minerals can be oxidized and form mine waters with high sulfate content, low pH, high electrical conductivity, high redox potential, and high concentrations of iron, aluminum, and other heavy metals. In th...

Peroxidase-mimicking DNAzyme was applied as a catalyst of silver deposition on gold nanoparticles. This DNAzyme is formed when hemin binds to the G-quadruplex-forming DNA sequence. Such a system is able to catalyze a redox reaction with a one- or two-electron transfer. The process of silver deposition was monitored via a localized surface plasmon resonance technique (LSPR), which allows one to ...

Stable bis-cyclometallated gold(III) complexes were developed as efficient catalysts for organic transformation reactions by using two strategies: (1) construction of distorted square planar gold(III) complexes and (2) dual catalysis by gold(III) complexes and silver salts.

Bimetallic nanoparticles have emerged up as advanced nanomaterials due to the synergism between two metallic nanoparticles in core-shell or alloy arrangement. Moreover, bioinspired synthesis of nanoparticles is an evergreen approach of nanobiosciences. In this experiment, we have fabricated silver, gold and silver (core) gold (shell) bimetallic nanoparticles using leaf extract of Catharanthus r...