Stanford Advisors


2024-25 Courses


All Publications


  • d-Band Holes React at the Tips of Gold Nanorods JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY LETTERS Al-Zubeidi, A., Wang, Y., Lin, J., Flatebo, C., Landes, C. F., Ren, H., Link, S. 2023: 5297-5304

    Abstract

    Reactive hot spots on plasmonic nanoparticles have attracted attention for photocatalysis as they allow for efficient catalyst design. While sharp tips have been identified as optimal features for field enhancement and hot electron generation, the locations of catalytically promising d-band holes are less clear. Here we exploit d-band hole-enhanced dissolution of gold nanorods as a model reaction to locate reactive hot spots produced from direct interband transitions, while the role of the plasmon is to follow the reaction optically in real time. Using a combination of single-particle electrochemistry and single-particle spectroscopy, we determine that d-band holes increase the rate of gold nanorod electrodissolution at their tips. While nanorods dissolve isotropically in the dark, the same nanoparticles switch to tip-enhanced dissolution upon illimitation with 488 nm light. Electron microscopy confirms that dissolution enhancement is exclusively at the tips of the nanorods, consistent with previous theoretical work that predicts the location of d-band holes. We, therefore, conclude that d-band holes drive reactions selectively at the nanorod tips.

    View details for DOI 10.1021/acs.jpclett.3c00997

    View details for Web of Science ID 001010306300001

    View details for PubMedID 37267074

  • Mechanism for plasmon-generated solvated electrons. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America Al-Zubeidi, A., Ostovar, B., Carlin, C. C., Li, B. C., Lee, S. A., Chiang, W., Gross, N., Dutta, S., Misiura, A., Searles, E. K., Chakraborty, A., Roberts, S. T., Dionne, J. A., Rossky, P. J., Landes, C. F., Link, S. 2023; 120 (3): e2217035120

    Abstract

    Solvated electrons are powerful reducing agents capable of driving some of the most energetically expensive reduction reactions. Their generation under mild and sustainable conditions remains challenging though. Using near-ultraviolet irradiation under low-intensity one-photon conditions coupled with electrochemical and optical detection, we show that the yield of solvated electrons in water is increased more than 10 times for nanoparticle-decorated electrodes compared to smooth silver electrodes. Based on the simulations of electric fields and hot carrier distributions, we determine that hot electrons generated by plasmons are injected into water to form solvated electrons. Both yield enhancement and hot carrier production spectrally follow the plasmonic near-field. The ability to enhance solvated electron yields in a controlled manner by tailoring nanoparticle plasmons opens up a promising strategy for exploiting solvated electrons in chemical reactions.

    View details for DOI 10.1073/pnas.2217035120

    View details for PubMedID 36626548

  • Single-Particle Hyperspectral Imaging Reveals Kinetics of Silver Ion Leaching from Alloy Nanoparticles ACS NANO Al-Zubeidi, A., Stein, F., Flatebo, C., Rehbock, C., Jebeli, S., Landes, C. F., Barcikowski, S., Link, S. 2021; 15 (5): 8363-8375

    Abstract

    Gold-silver alloy nanoparticles are interesting for multiple applications, including heterogeneous catalysis, optical sensing, and antimicrobial properties. The inert element gold acts as a stabilizer for silver to prevent particle corrosion, or conversely, to control the release kinetics of antimicrobial silver ions for long-term efficiency at minimum cytotoxicity. However, little is known about the kinetics of silver ion leaching from bimetallic nanoparticles and how it is correlated with silver content, especially not on a single-particle level. To characterize the kinetics of silver ion release from gold-silver alloy nanoparticles, we employed a combination of electron microscopy and single-particle hyperspectral imaging with an acquisition speed fast enough to capture the irreversible silver ion leaching. Single-particle leaching profiles revealed a reduction in silver ion leaching rate due to the alloying with gold as well as two leaching stages, with a large heterogeneity in rate constants. We modeled the initial leaching stage as a shrinking-particle with a rate constant that exponentially depends on the silver content. The second, slower leaching stage is controlled by the electrochemical oxidation potential of the alloy being steadily increased by the change in relative gold content and diffusion of silver atoms through the lattice. Interestingly, individual nanoparticles with similar sizes and compositions exhibited completely different silver ion leaching yields. Most nanoparticles released silver completely, but 25% of them appeared to arrest leaching. Additionally, nanoparticles became slightly porous. Alloy nanoparticles, produced by scalable laser ablation in liquid, together with kinetic studies of silver ion leaching, provide an approach to design the durability or bioactivity of alloy nanoparticles.

    View details for DOI 10.1021/acsnano.0c10150

    View details for Web of Science ID 000656994100038

    View details for PubMedID 33886276

  • Single-particle scattering spectroscopy: fundamentals and applications NANOPHOTONICS Al-Zubeidi, A., McCarthy, L. A., Rafiei-Miandashti, A., Heiderscheit, T. S., Link, S. 2021; 10 (6): 1621-1655
  • Nanoelectrode-emitter spectral overlap amplifies surface enhanced electrogenerated chemiluminescence JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL PHYSICS Heiderscheit, T. S., Gallagher, M. J., Baiyasi, R., Collins, S. E., Jebeli, S., Scarabelli, L., Al-Zubeidi, A., Flatebo, C., Chang, W., Landes, C. F., Link, S. 2019; 151 (14): 144712

    Abstract

    Electrogenerated chemiluminescence (ECL) is a promising technique for low concentration molecular detection. To improve the detection limit, plasmonic nanoparticles have been proposed as signal boosting antennas to amplify ECL. Previous ensemble studies have hinted that spectral overlap between the nanoparticle antenna and the ECL emitter may play a role in signal enhancement. Ensemble spectroscopy, however, cannot resolve heterogeneities arising from colloidal nanoparticle size and shape distributions, leading to an incomplete picture of the impact of spectral overlap. Here, we isolate the effect of nanoparticle-emitter spectral overlap for a model ECL system, coreaction of tris(2,2'-bipyridyl)dichlororuthenium(ii) hexahydrate and tripropylamine, at the single-particle level while minimizing other factors influencing ECL intensities. We found a 10-fold enhancement of ECL among 952 gold nanoparticles. This signal enhancement is attributed exclusively to spectral overlap between the nanoparticle and the emitter. Our study provides new mechanistic insight into plasmonic enhancement of ECL, creating opportunities for low concentration ECL sensing.

    View details for DOI 10.1063/1.5118669

    View details for Web of Science ID 000500356200048

    View details for PubMedID 31615232

  • Single-Particle Emission Spectroscopy Resolves d-Hole Relaxation in Copper Nanocubes ACS ENERGY LETTERS Cai, Y., Collins, S. E., Gallagher, M. J., Bhattacharjee, U., Zhang, R., Chow, T., Ahmadivand, A., Ostovar, B., Al-Zubeidi, A., Wang, J., Nordlander, P., Landes, C. F., Link, S. 2019; 4 (10): 2458-2465
  • Hot Holes Assist Plasmonic Nanoelectrode Dissolution NANO LETTERS Al-Zubeidi, A., Hoener, B. S., Collins, S. E., Wang, W., Kirchner, S. R., Jebeli, S., Joplin, A., Chang, W., Link, S., Landes, C. F. 2019; 19 (2): 1301-1306

    Abstract

    Strong light-absorbing properties allow plasmonic metal nanoparticles to serve as antennas for other catalysts to function as photocatalysts. To achieve plasmonic photocatalysis, the hot charge carriers created when light is absorbed must be harnessed before they decay through internal relaxation pathways. We demonstrate the role of photogenerated hot holes in the oxidative dissolution of individual gold nanorods with millisecond time resolution while tuning charge-carrier density and photon energy using snapshot hyperspectral imaging. We show that light-induced hot charge carriers enhance the rate of gold oxidation and subsequent electrodissolution. Importantly, we distinguish how hot holes generated from interband transitions versus hot holes around the Fermi level contribute to photooxidative dissolution. The results provide new insights into hot-hole-driven processes with relevance to photocatalysis while emphasizing the need for statistical descriptions of nonequilibrium processes on innately heterogeneous nanoparticle supports.

    View details for DOI 10.1021/acs.nanolett.8b04894

    View details for Web of Science ID 000459222300090

    View details for PubMedID 30616352

  • Disentangling chemical effects in ionic-liquid-based Cu leaching from chalcopyrite JOURNAL OF ELECTROANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY Al-Zubeidi, A., Godfrey, D., Albrecht, T. 2018; 819: 130-135