# US 11,077,499 B2 · Large-scale controllable preparation method for plasmonic nanonail structure > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 11,077,499 B2 - Document ID: US11077499B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 16/976,079 - Filed: 2018-05-28 - Published: 2020-12-24 - Granted: 2021-08-03 - Earliest claimed: 2018-03-01 - Assignees: Southeast University - Applicants: Southeast University - Inventors: Xiaoyang Zhang; Tong Zhang; Xiaomei Xue; Yanyan Qin - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US11077499B2 ## CPC - B22F 9/24: starting from liquid metal compounds, e.g. solutions - B01D 57/02: by electrophoresis (treatment of water, waste water, sewage or sludge by electrophoresis C02F1/469; electrophoretic production of compounds or non-metals C25B7/00; investigating or analysing materials by using electrophoresis G01N27/26) - B22F 1/07: Metallic powder characterised by particles having a nanoscale microstructure (nanosized particles B22F1/054) - B22F 1/145: Chemical treatment, e.g. passivation or decarburisation - B22F 1/17: Metallic particles coated with metal - B22F 1/062: Fibrous particles - B22F 2301/255: Silver or gold - B22F 2999/00: Aspects linked to processes or compositions used in powder metallurgy - B82Y 20/00: Nanooptics, e.g. quantum optics or photonic crystals - B82Y 30/00: Nanotechnology for materials or surface science, e.g. nanocomposites - B82Y 40/00: Manufacture or treatment of nanostructures - B22F: WORKING METALLIC POWDER; MANUFACTURE OF ARTICLES FROM METALLIC POWDER; MAKING METALLIC POWDER (making alloys by powder metallurgy C22C); APPARATUS OR DEVICES SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR METALLIC POWDER - B01D: SEPARATION (separating solids from solids by wet methods B03B, B03D; by pneumatic jigs or tables B03B; by other dry methods B07; magnetic or electrostatic separation of solid materials from solid materials or fluids, separation by high-voltage electric fields B03C; centrifuges, vortex apparatus B04; presses per se for squeezing-out liquid from liquid-containing material B30B9/02; treatment of water C02F, e.g. softening by ion-exchange C02F1/42; {arrangements of air intake cleaners in gas turbine plants F02C7/05} ; arrangements or mounting of filters in air-conditioning, air-humidification or ventilation F24F13/28) - B82Y: SPECIFIC USES OR APPLICATIONS OF NANOSTRUCTURES; MEASUREMENT OR ANALYSIS OF NANOSTRUCTURES; MANUFACTURE OR TREATMENT OF NANOSTRUCTURES ## Abstract A controllable preparation method for a plasmonic nanonail structure is provided. A size of a nanomaterial can be controlled at sub-wavelength. The nanomaterial has good localized surface plasmon resonance effect, and the optical, electrical and mechanical properties of the nanometer material all can be regulated. The plasmonic nanonail is composed of two parts, i.e., a silver nanorod, a gold nanorod or a silver-gold-silver alloy nanorod and an approximate equilateral triangular nano-silver plate growing on the nanorod. A length of the nanorod is controlled within 20-30 nanometers, a diameter of the nanorod is controlled within 10-200 nanometers, a side length of the triangular nano-silver plate is controlled within 20 nanometers to 2 microns, and a size of the triangular plate is less than or equal to the length of the nanorod. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A large-scale controllable preparation method for synthesizing a plasmonic nanonail with a silver nanorod as a backbone, wherein the method comprises: a. preparing a mixed aqueous solution of a weak reducing agent A, a photocatalyst B, silver nitrate, and a surfactant C, then, adding a strong reducing agent D into the mixed aqueous solution, when a quantity of sliver ions are reduced to elemental silver, adding an etchant E, and performing illumination for 0.1-5h, wherein under a screening effect of E, isotropic particles are etched into silver ions, and, under a traction effect of light irradiation, the silver ions are adsorbed on surfaces of decahedrons, and high-yield silver decahedrons are generated to obtain a silver decahedral core aqueous solution I in a light-induced manner so as to control a thickness of the silver nanorod; b. heating a mixed aqueous solution of the weak reducing agent A and the surfactant C under the condition of 70-120° C. to obtain a solution having a reducing property, adding the silver decahedral core aqueous solution I to the solution having the reducing property to chemically reduce the silver decahedral core aqueous solution I, adding a silver nitrate solution multiple times, and growing the reduced silver ions along longitudinal axes of the silver decahedrons for multiple rounds to obtain a silver nanorod aqueous solution II; c. thoroughly dissolving silver nitrate and the surfactant C into dimethylformamide (DMF) to obtain a solution III; thoroughly washing the silver nanorod aqueous solution II, adding a surface treatment agent F to obtain a solution IV, and treating an originally smooth surface of the silver nanorod by using the surface treatment agent F to form one or more surface defects after washing; thoroughly mixing the silver nanorod with the solutions III and IV, and placing the mixture under a condition of 60-150° C. for reaction, wherein free silver ions are reduced at the defect, and a triangular plate is formed under an adsorption effect of C, that is, a plasmonic nanonail DMF-water mixed solution is obtained; and d. adding 1.5% agarose gel into a casting tank of an electrophoresis tank, letting the agarose gel stand at room temperature until the agarose gel is completely solidified, removing a tape, placing the agarose gel and an inner tank into the electrophoresis tank, adding an electrophoresis buffer solution to 1-2 mm above a cassette, adding the plasmonic nanonail DMF-water mixed solution to a sample tank of the cassette, and energizing the electrophoresis tank for electrophoresis, wherein because a particle size of nanosphere particles is much smaller than that of the nanonail, and a movement speed of the nanospheres is much higher than that of the nanonail, so that by using an electrophoresis method impurities comprising the nanospheres are separated from the nanonail to obtain uniformly dispersed plasmonic nanonails to further achieve the controllable morphology, wherein the nanonail comprises a structure composed of the nanorod and the triangular plate, wherein each end of the nanorod comprises a point and the triangular plate is attached to a side of the nanorod. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The large-scale controllable preparation method for a plasmonic nanonail structure according to claim 1, wherein the weak reducing agent A is sodium citrate, glucose or ascorbic acid, the photocatalyst B is L-arginine, the strong reducing agent D is sodium borohydride, potassium borohydride or lithium aluminum hydride, and the etchant E is hydrogen peroxide. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The large-scale controllable preparation method for a plasmonic nanonail structure according to claim 1, wherein the surfactant C is polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) with a molecular weight of 40,000-1,300,000 Daltons and more, or sodium polyvinyl sulfonate PSS and polyacrylic acid (PAA). ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The large-scale controllable preparation method for a plasmonic nanonail structure according to claim 1, wherein the surface treatment agent F is acetone, toluene, cyclopentanone, DMF, hydrogen peroxide, hydrochloric acid or nitric acid, wherein concentrations of the surface treatment agent in the solution IV range from 0.001-10 mmol/L. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The large-scale controllable preparation method for a plasmonic nanonail structure according to claim 1, wherein a ratio of amounts of substances of the silver nitrate solution, a PVP solution, and the nanorod solution is 400: (20-500):(0.01-10). ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The large-scale controllable preparation method for a plasmonic nanonail structure according to claim 1, wherein a thickness of the silver nanorod is controllably changed by changing a size of a decahedral seed, a small diameter of the seed indicates a thin prepared nanorod, and a large diameter of the seed indicates a thick prepared nanorod; and when the diameter of the nanorod is approximately 20 nanometers, a resonance peak of a spectral characteristic curve is located at approximately 400 nanometers, and when the diameter of the nanorod is approximately 60 nanometers, the resonance peak may be red-shifted to 420 nanometers. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The large-scale controllable preparation method for a plasmonic nanonail structure according to claim 1, wherein when the weak reducing agent A is sodium citrate and the strong reducing agent D is sodium borohydride, a ratio of amounts of substances of sodium citrate, L-arginine, silver nitrate and sodium borohydride is 1.68:(0.001-5):(0.05-10):(0.05-10). ### Claim 8 (depends on 1) The large-scale controllable preparation method for a plasmonic nanonail structure according to claim 1, wherein when the surfactant C is PVP, and concentrations of the added PVP in the silver decahedral core aqueous solution I, the silver nanorod aqueous solution II and the solution III range from 0.001-1 mmol/L. ### Claim 9 A large-scale controllable preparation method for synthesizing a gold-silver alloy-type plasmonic nanonail with a gold nanorod as a backbone, wherein the method comprises: a. preparing a mixed aqueous solution of a weak reducing agent A and tetrachloroauric acid, and then, adding a strong reducing agent I into the mixed aqueous solution to thoroughly react to obtain a gold decahedral core aqueous solution V; b. preparing an aqueous solution of the weak reducing agent A, the tetrachloroauric acid, and a surfactant K, and adding the gold decahedral core solution V into the aqueous solution multiple times to chemically reduce the gold decahedral core solution V, wherein a reduced elemental gold grows for multiple rounds along a longitudinal axis of a gold decahedron to obtain a gold nanorod aqueous solution VI; c. thoroughly dissolving silver nitrate and a surfactant C into dimethylformamide (DMF) to obtain a solution III; thoroughly washing the gold nanorod aqueous solution VI, adding a amount of surface treatment agent F to obtain a solution VII, and treating an originally smooth surface of the gold nanorod by using the surface treatment agent F to form one or more surface defects after washing; thoroughly mixing the gold nanorod with the solutions III and VII, and placing the mixture under a condition of 60-150° C. for reaction, wherein free silver ions are reduced at the defect, and a triangular plate is formed under a adsorption effect of C, that is, a gold-silver alloy-type plasmonic nanonail DMF-water solution is obtained; and d. adding 0.5%-3% agarose gel into a casting tank of an electrophoresis tank, letting the agarose gel stand at room temperature until the agarose gel is completely solidified, removing a tape, placing the agarose gel and an inner tank into the electrophoresis tank, adding an electrophoresis buffer solution to 1-2 mm above a cassette, adding the gold-silver alloy-type plasmonic nanonail DMF-water solution to a sample tank of the cassette, and energizing the electrophoresis tank for electrophoresis, wherein because a particle size of nanosphere particles is much smaller than that of the nanonail, and a movement speed of the nanospheres is much higher than that of the nanonail, so that by using an electrophoresis method impurities comprising the nanospheres are separated from the nanonail to obtain uniformly dispersed gold-silver alloy-type plasmonic nanonails to further achieve the controllable morphology, wherein the nanonail comprises a structure composed of the nanorod and the triangular plate, wherein each end of the nanorod comprises a point and the triangular plate is attached to a side of the nanorod. ### Claim 10 (depends on 9) The large-scale controllable preparation method for a plasmonic nanonail structure according to claim 9, wherein the weak reducing agent A is sodium citrate, glucose or ascorbic acid. ### Claim 11 (depends on 9) The large-scale controllable preparation method for a plasmonic nanonail structure according to claim 9, wherein the surfactant C is polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) with a molecular weight of 40,000-1,300,000 Daltons and more, or sodium polyvinyl sulfonate PSS and polyacrylic acid (PAA). ### Claim 12 (depends on 9) The large-scale controllable preparation method for a plasmonic nanonail structure according to claim 9, wherein the surface treatment agent F is acetone, toluene, cyclopentanone, DMF, hydrogen peroxide, hydrochloric acid or nitric acid, wherein concentrations of the surface treatment agent in the solution VII range from 0.001-10 mmol/L; and the surfactant K is CTAB or CTAC. ### Claim 13 (depends on 9) The large-scale controllable preparation method for a plasmonic nanonail structure according to claim 9, wherein a ratio of amounts of substances of the silver nitrate solution, a PVP solution, and the nanorod solution is 400: (20-500):(0.01-10). ### Claim 14 (depends on 9) The large-scale controllable preparation method for a plasmonic nanonail structure according to claim 9, wherein a thickness of the gold nanorod is controllably changed by changing a size of a decahedral seed, a small diameter of the seed indicates a thin prepared nanorod, and a large diameter of the seed indicates a thick prepared nanorod; and when the diameter of the nanorod is approximately 20 nanometers, a resonance peak of a spectral characteristic curve is located at approximately 400 nanometers, and when the diameter of the nanorod is approximately 60 nanometers, the resonance peak may be red-shifted to 420 nanometers. ### Claim 15 A large-scale controllable preparation method for synthesizing a silver-gold-silver alloy-type plasmonic nanonail with a silver-gold-silver alloy nanorod as a backbone, wherein the method comprises: a. adding a amount of cationic surfactant cetyltrimethylammonium chloride (CTAC) solution to a gold nanorod aqueous solution VI to make a concentration of CTAC in the gold nanorod aqueous solution range from 0.05-2 mol/L, wherein CTAC with a high concentration is adsorbed on a surface of the gold nanorod, reduces a zeta potential of the gold nanorod, and flocculates, thereby effectively extracting the gold nanorod; formulating the extracted gold nanorod to a benzyldimethylhexadecyl ammonium chloride (BDAC) solution with a concentration of 0.01-10 mmol/L, adding silver nitrate and a weak reducing agent A solution separately and simultaneously into the benzyldimethylhexadecyl ammonium chloride (BDAC) solution at a rate of 100-400 μL/h, and thoroughly reacting at a temperature of 40-100° C. for 2-6 h, wherein silver ions are reduced by A and grow along two ends of the gold nanorod to obtain a silver-gold-silver alloy nanorod solution VIII by a chemical reduction method; b. thoroughly mixing and stirring silver nitrate and a DMF solution of a surfactant C to obtain a solution III; thoroughly washing the silver-gold-silver alloy nanorod aqueous solution VIII at a speed, adding a amount of surface treatment agent F, treating an originally smooth surface of the alloy nanorod by using the surface treatment agent F to form one or more surface defects after washing, and obtaining a solution IX; thoroughly mixing the solutions IX and III, and placing the mixture under a condition of 60-150° C. for reaction to obtain a silver-gold-silver alloy-type plasmonic nanonail DMF-water solution; and c. adding 1.5% agarose gel into a casting tank of an electrophoresis tank, letting the agarose gel stand at room temperature until the agarose gel is completely solidified, removing a tape, placing the agarose gel and an inner tank into the electrophoresis tank, adding an electrophoresis buffer solution to 1-2 mm above a cassette, adding the silver-gold-silver alloy-type plasmonic nanonail DMF-water solution to a sample tank of the cassette, and energizing the electrophoresis tank for electrophoresis, wherein because a particle size of nanosphere particles is much smaller than that of the nanonail, and a movement speed of the nanospheres is much higher than that of the nanonail, so that by using an electrophoresis method impurities comprising the nanospheres are separated from the nanonail to obtain uniformly dispersed silver-gold-silver alloy-type plasmonic nanonails to further achieve the controllable morphology, wherein the nanonail comprises a structure composed of the nanorod and the triangular plate, wherein each end of the nanorod comprises a point and the triangular plate is attached to a side of the nanorod. ### Claim 16 (depends on 15) The large-scale controllable preparation method for a plasmonic nanonail structure according to claim 15, wherein the weak reducing agent A is sodium citrate, glucose or ascorbic acid. ### Claim 17 (depends on 15) The large-scale controllable preparation method for a plasmonic nanonail structure according to claim 15, wherein the surfactant C is polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) with a molecular weight of 40,000-1,300,000 Daltons and more, or sodium polyvinyl sulfonate PSS and polyacrylic acid (PAA). ### Claim 18 (depends on 15) The large-scale controllable preparation method for a plasmonic nanonail structure according to claim 15, wherein the surface treatment agent F is acetone, toluene, cyclopentanone, DMF, hydrogen peroxide, hydrochloric acid or nitric acid, wherein concentrations of the surface treatment agent in the solution IX range from 0.001-10 mmol/L. ### Claim 19 (depends on 15) The large-scale controllable preparation method for a plasmonic nanonail structure according to claim 15, wherein a ratio of amounts of substances of the silver nitrate solution, a PVP solution, and the nanorod solution is 400: (20-500):(0.01-10). ### Claim 20 (depends on 15) The large-scale controllable preparation method for a plasmonic nanonail structure according to claim 15, wherein a thickness of the silver-gold-silver alloy nanorod is controllably changed by changing a size of a decahedral seed, a small diameter of the seed indicates a thin prepared nanorod, and a large diameter of the seed indicates a thick prepared nanorod; and when the diameter of the nanorod is approximately 20 nanometers, a resonance peak of a spectral characteristic curve is located at approximately 400 nanometers, and when the diameter of the nanorod is approximately 60 nanometers, the resonance peak may be red-shifted to 420 nanometers.