@article {1110, title = {The sensitivity of the energy band gap to changes in the dimensions of the CdSe quantum rods at room temperature: STM and theoretical studies}, journal = {Chemical Physics Letters}, volume = {473}, number = {4-6}, year = {2009}, note = {Talaat, H. Abdallah, T. Mohamed, M. B. Negm, S. El-Sayed, Mostafa A.}, month = {May}, pages = {288-292}, abstract = {The energy band gap of a series of different sizes of CdSe quantum rods have been determined by STM technique at room temperature. The results confirm that the band gap of CdSe quantum rods (QRs) depends mainly on the width (the dimension of the electron confinement) and only slightly on the length as shown previously in the literatures. The experimental data is compared to that calculated using two theoretical models, the effective mass approximation (EMA) and the semi-empirical pseudopotential method (SEPM). The theoretical values for the energy band gap at varying radius are in agreement with the experimental results within 0.08 eV. (c) 2008 Published by Elsevier B.V.}, isbn = {0009-2614}, doi = {10.1016/j.cplett.2008.11.025}, author = {Talaat, M. H. and Abdallah, T. and Mohamed, MB and Negm, S. and El-Sayed, Mostafa A} } @article {1161, title = {Femtosecond excitation dynamics in gold nanospheres and nanorods}, journal = {Physical Review B}, volume = {72}, number = {23}, year = {2005}, note = {Varnavski, OP Goodson, T Mohamed, MB El-Sayed, MA}, month = {Dec}, abstract = {Femtosecond visible photoluminescence is detected from gold nanoparticles using time-resolved fluorescence upconversion spectroscopy. We directly compared this fast luminescence from gold nanospheres (subset of 25 nm) with that obtained from nanorods (subset of 15x40 nm, subset of 15x27 nm) under vis (3.02 eV) and UV(4.65 eV) excitation. A fast (similar to 50 fs) decay was obtained for the nanoparticles and the emission was depolarized. Degenerate femtosecond pump-probe experiments in the low excitation intensity regime demonstrated much slower electron thermalization and/or equilibration dynamics on the time scale of a few hundred femtoseconds. These features strongly indicate a d-hole-conduction electron recombination process as the origin of this photoluminescence. A direct comparison of the fast emission spectra from nanorods and nanospheres is used to discuss the emission enhancement mechanism. These results suggest that the classical local field enhancement theory describes quantitatively well many of the emission features of nanorods with respect to those for nanospheres without invoking more complex models.}, isbn = {1098-0121}, doi = {10.1103/PhysRevB.72.235405}, author = {Varnavski, O. P. and Goodson, T. and Mohamed, MB and El-Sayed, Mostafa A} } @article {845, title = {Relative enhancement of ultrafast emission in gold nanorods}, journal = {The Journal of Physical Chemistry B}, volume = {107}, year = {2003}, pages = {3101-3104}, publisher = {ACS Publications}, abstract = {Time-resolved fluorescence spectroscopy has been employed to probe the ultrafast emission observed in gold nanospheres and nanorods. The decay of the emission was found to be <=50 fs. The ultrafast emission from nanorods has been directly compared to that for nanospheres and the dispersion of the relative local field enhancement factor was obtained and compared with calculations. Measurements with both visible and ultraviolet excitations have been analyzed. These results give the first observation and analysis of the mechanism for the local field-enhanced ultrafast emission in gold nanorods and nanospheres.}, isbn = {1520-6106}, doi = {10.1021/jp0341265}, url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/jp0341265}, author = {Varnavski, O. P. and Mohamed, MB and El-Sayed, Mostafa A and Goodson III, T.} } @article {1196, title = {Hot electron relaxation dynamics of gold nanoparticles embedded in MgSO4 powder compared to solution: The effect of the surrounding medium}, journal = {Journal of Physical Chemistry B}, volume = {106}, number = {5}, year = {2002}, note = {Link, S Furube, A Mohamed, MB Asahi, T Masuhara, H El-Sayed, MA}, month = {Feb}, pages = {945-955}, abstract = {To test the influence of the surrounding medium on the relaxation dynamics of the plasmon band bleach recovery of gold nanoparticles after excitation with femtosecond laser pulses, we embedded 14.5 and 12.1 nm colloidal gold nanoparticles (synthesized electrochemically) in MgSO4 powder and investigated these samples by femtosecond diffuse reflectance spectroscopy. By measuring the relaxation dynamics over a wide range of excitation energies, we found that the fast decay component is slower by about a factor of 2 for the particles in the MgSO4 powder compared to those in solution while no significant change in the slow decay component is observed. In agreement with this observation, we found that adding solvent to the particles embedded in the powder caused a decrease in the relaxation time from about 10 ps to 5 ps for the fast decay component. This leads to the conclusion that the electron-phonon relaxation in these gold nanoparticles depends on the chemical nature and/or physical phase (solid vs solution) of the surrounding medium. A discussion of this in terms of the type of phonon involved, and the nature of the electron-phonon and phonon-phonon relaxation processes is discussed. To our knowledge, this also presents the first time that a transient bleach could be observed by diffuse reflectance spectroscopy.}, isbn = {1520-6106}, doi = {10.1021/jp013311k}, author = {Link, Stephan and Furube, A. and Mohamed, MB and Asahi, T. and Masuhara, H. and El-Sayed, Mostafa A} } @article {852, title = {The pump power dependence of the femtosecond relaxation of CdSe nanoparticles observed in the spectral range from visible to infrared}, journal = {The Journal of chemical physics}, volume = {116}, year = {2002}, pages = {3828}, abstract = {The pump power dependence of the relaxation dynamics of CdSe nanoparticles (NPs) was studied with femtosecond pump probe spectroscopy at observation wavelengths of the first exciton transition at 560 nm, the near infrared (NIR) absorption at 2 μm, and the transient mid-infrared (IR) absorption at 4.5 μm. Excitation with less than one photon per particle leads to bleaching of the excitonic transitions, and the bleach intensity is initially linear to the pump power. At higher pump power the bleach intensity levels off, when complete saturation of the excitonic transition is reached. At the same time, increasing pump power causes an acceleration of the bleach decay, which is due to additional Auger processes when multiple excitons are formed in the NPs. In addition, the pump power effect was investigated for the NIR and IR regions, at 2 and 4.5 μm wavelength, respectively. Whereas the IR transients are very similar to the ones observed for the bleach, the NIR transients behave completely different. No pump power dependence was found for the transients at 2 μm when pumped in a power range from 0.5 to 5 μJ per pulse. The results show that the fs transients in the visible (bleach) and IR (absorption) regions are due to electron relaxation in the conduction band and the NIR transients are due to the relaxation of the hole. Furthermore, it suggests that in the investigated CdSe NPs, Auger processes act much more efficiently on the electrons than for the holes. }, doi = {10.1063/1.1446851}, url = {http://link.aip.org/link/doi/10.1063/1.1446851}, author = {Burda, Clemens and Link, Stephan and Mohamed, MB and El-Sayed, Mostafa A} } @article {1210, title = {Hot electron and phonon dynamics of gold nanoparticles embedded in a gel matrix}, journal = {Chemical Physics Letters}, volume = {343}, number = {1-2}, year = {2001}, note = {Mohamed, MB Ahmadi, TS Link, S Braun, M El-Sayed, MA}, month = {Jul}, pages = {55-63}, abstract = {Using pump-probe technique, the dynamics of the hot carriers in metallic nanodots induced by femtosecond laser pulses are investigated in gold nanoparticles embedded in hydrogel and in organic gel and compared to that in aqueous solution. We found that changing the surrounding matrix from aqueous solution to hydrogel and then to organic gel leads to a large increase in the relaxation time of both the electron-phonon (e-ph) and the phonon-phonon (ph-ph) coupling. Furthermore, the ph-ph relaxation time becomes sensitive to the type of the organic solvent trapped in the gel network. This indicates that the relaxation dynamics depend on the thermal conductivity, chemical structure and the molecular dynamics of the surrounding medium. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science BN. All rights reserved.}, isbn = {0009-2614}, doi = {10.1016/s0009-2614(01)00653-4}, author = {Mohamed, MB and Ahmadi, Temer S. and Link, Stephan and Braun, Markus and El-Sayed, Mostafa A} } @article {1229, title = {Femtosecond transient-absorption dynamics of colloidal gold nanorods: Shape independence of the electron-phonon relaxation time}, journal = {Physical Review B}, volume = {61}, number = {9}, year = {2000}, note = {Link, S Burda, C Mohamed, MB Nikoobakht, B El-Sayed, MA}, month = {Mar}, pages = {6086-6090}, abstract = {We studied the femtosecond dynamics of colloidal gold nanorods encapsulated in micelles after excitation with 400 nm pulses of 100 fs duration. It is found that the laser heating of the electron gas of gold nanorods with an average aspect ratio of 3.8 leads to the bleaching of both the transverse and longitudinal mode of the surface plasmon oscillation at 520 and 750 nm. The bleach recovers with the same time constant for both the transverse and longitudinal oscillation, for gold nanodots prepared by photothermal reshaping of the rods as well as for nanodots synthesized chemically by citrate reduction (and known to have twin boundaries and surface defects). Since the bleach recovery on the 3 ps time scale is assigned to electron-phonon relaxation processes, these results suggest that phonon dependent relaxation processes in gold nanoparticles are independent of the shape, size, type of the surfaces, or the mode of the surface plasmon, oscillation excited. The fact that the mean free path of the electron in metallic gold is in the nanometer length scale (similar to 50 nm) raised the question of the importance of surface scattering to the electron-phonon relaxation process in gold nanoparticles. Our previous studies showed little dependence of the relaxation rate of the size of gold nanodots (from 9 to 48 nm). In the present study, the electron-phonon relaxation is measured in gold nanorods, which have different facets from those of gold nanodots.}, isbn = {1098-0121}, doi = {10.1103/PhysRevB.61.6086}, author = {Link, Stephan and Burda, Clemens and Mohamed, MB and Nikoobakht, Babak and El-Sayed, Mostafa A} } @article {1224, title = {The {\textquoteright}lightning{\textquoteright} gold nanorods: fluorescence enhancement of over a million compared to the gold metal}, journal = {Chemical Physics Letters}, volume = {317}, number = {6}, year = {2000}, note = {Mohamed, MB Volkov, V Link, S El-Sayed, MA}, month = {Feb}, pages = {517-523}, abstract = {Gold nanorods capped with micelles and having an aspect ratio of 2.0-5.4 are found to fluoresce with a quantum yield which is over a million times that of the metal. For rods of the same width, the yield is found to increase quadratically while the wavelength maximum increases linearly with the length. We assign this emission to the electron and hole interband recombination. The increase in the emission yield results from the enhancement effect of the incoming and outgoing electric fields via coupling to the surface plasmon resonance in the rods. This is similar to the previously proposed fluorescence and the Raman enhancement on noble metal rough surfaces. (C) 2000 Published by Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.}, isbn = {0009-2614}, doi = {10.1016/s0009-2614(99)01414-1}, author = {Mohamed, MB and Volkov, V. V. and Link, Stephan and El-Sayed, Mostafa A} } @article {1235, title = {Crystallographic facets and shapes of gold nanorods of different aspect ratios}, journal = {Surface Science}, volume = {440}, number = {1-2}, year = {1999}, note = {Wang, ZL Mohamed, MB Link, S El-Sayed, MA}, month = {Oct}, pages = {L809-L814}, abstract = {Crystal structures of gold nanorods synthesized electrochemically using micelles as a capping material have been studied by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy. Short gold nanorods with aspect ratios of 3-7 are enclosed mainly by (100) and (110) facets and their axial growth direction is [001], whereas long gold nanorods of aspect ratios 20-35 are dominated by (111) and (110) facets and their growth axial direction is (112). The short rods are the dominant constituents, whereas the long rods are observed occasionally. Spherical-like Au particles with equivalent mass to the short rods are dominated by (111) and (100) facets with shapes of truncated octahedra, icosahedra and decahedra. The unique (110) facets of Au nanorods are expected to have interesting surface properties. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.}, isbn = {0039-6028}, doi = {10.1016/s0039-6028(99)00865-1}, author = {Wang, Z.L. and Mohamed, MB and Link, Stephan and El-Sayed, Mostafa A} } @article {1246, title = {Laser photothermal melting and fragmentation of gold nanorods: Energy and laser pulse-width dependence}, journal = {Journal of Physical Chemistry A}, volume = {103}, number = {9}, year = {1999}, note = {Link, S Burda, C Mohamed, MB Nikoobakht, B El-Sayed, MA}, month = {Mar}, pages = {1165-1170}, abstract = {We studied the shape transformation (by use of TEM and optical absorption spectroscopy) of gold nanorods in micellar solution by exposure to laser pulses of different pulse width (100 fs and 7 ns) and different energies (mu J to mJ) at 800 nm, where the longitudinal surface plasmon oscillation of the nanorods absorb. At moderate energies, the femtosecond irradiation melts the nanorods to near spherical particles of comparable volumes while the nanosecond pulses fragment them to smaller near-spherical particles. At high energies, fragmentation is also observed for the femtosecond irradiation. A mechanism involving the rate of energy deposition as compared to the rate of electron-phonon and phonon-phonon relaxation processes is proposed to determine the final fate of the laser-exposed nanorods, i.e., melting or fragmentation.}, isbn = {1089-5639}, doi = {10.1021/jp983141k}, author = {Link, Stephan and Burda, Clemens and Mohamed, MB and Nikoobakht, Babak and El-Sayed, Mostafa A} } @article {834, title = {Simulation of the Optical Absorption Spectra of Gold Nanorods as a Function of Their Aspect Ratio and the Effect of the Medium Dielectric Constant}, journal = {The Journal of Physical Chemistry B }, volume = {103}, year = {1999}, note = {doi: 10.1021/jp990183f}, month = {1999}, pages = {3073 - 3077}, publisher = {American Chemical Society}, abstract = {Gold nanorods with different aspect ratios are prepared in micelles by the electrochemical method and their absorption spectra are modeled by theory. Experimentally, a linear relationship is found between the absorption maximum of the longitudinal plasmon resonance and the mean aspect ratio as determined from TEM. It is shown here that such a linear dependence is also predicted theoretically. However, calculations also show that the absorption maximum of the longitudinal plasmon resonance depends on the medium dielectric constant in a linear fashion for a fixed aspect ratio. Attempts to fit the calculations to the experimental values indicate that the medium dielectric constant has to vary with the aspect ratio in a nonlinear way. Chemically, this suggests that the structure of the micelle capping the gold nanorods is size dependent. Furthermore, comparison with the results obtained for rods of different aspect ratios made by systematic thermal decomposition of the long rods further suggests that the medium dielectric constant is also temperature dependent. This is attributed to thermal annealing of the structure of the micelles around the nanorods.Gold nanorods with different aspect ratios are prepared in micelles by the electrochemical method and their absorption spectra are modeled by theory. Experimentally, a linear relationship is found between the absorption maximum of the longitudinal plasmon resonance and the mean aspect ratio as determined from TEM. It is shown here that such a linear dependence is also predicted theoretically. However, calculations also show that the absorption maximum of the longitudinal plasmon resonance depends on the medium dielectric constant in a linear fashion for a fixed aspect ratio. Attempts to fit the calculations to the experimental values indicate that the medium dielectric constant has to vary with the aspect ratio in a nonlinear way. Chemically, this suggests that the structure of the micelle capping the gold nanorods is size dependent. Furthermore, comparison with the results obtained for rods of different aspect ratios made by systematic thermal decomposition of the long rods further suggests that the medium dielectric constant is also temperature dependent. This is attributed to thermal annealing of the structure of the micelles around the nanorods.}, isbn = {1520-6106}, url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/jp990183f}, author = {Link, Stephan and Mohamed, MB and El-Sayed, Mostafa A} } @article {1241, title = {Simulation of the optical absorption spectra of gold nanorods as a function of their aspect ratio and the effect of the medium dielectric constant}, journal = {Journal of Physical Chemistry B}, volume = {103}, number = {16}, year = {1999}, note = {Link, S Mohamed, MB El-Sayed, MA}, month = {Apr}, pages = {3073-3077}, abstract = {Gold nanorods with different aspect ratios are prepared in micelles by the electrochemical method and their absorption spectra are modeled by theory. Experimentally, a linear relationship is found between the absorption maximum of the longitudinal plasmon resonance and the mean aspect ratio as determined from TEM. It is shown here that such a linear dependence is also predicted theoretically. However, calculations also show that the absorption maximum of the longitudinal plasmon resonance depends on the medium dielectric constant in a linear fashion for a fixed aspect ratio. Attempts to fit the calculations to the experimental values indicate that the medium dielectric constant has to vary with the aspect ratio in a nonlinear way. Chemically, this suggests that the structure of the micelle capping the gold nanorods is size dependent. Furthermore, comparison with the results obtained for rods of different aspect ratios made by systematic thermal decomposition of the long rods further suggests that the medium dielectric constant is also temperature dependent. This is attributed to thermal annealing of the structure of the micelles around the nanorods.}, isbn = {1089-5647}, doi = {10.1021/jp990183f}, author = {Link, Stephan and Mohamed, MB and El-Sayed, Mostafa A} } @article {1239, title = {Temperature-dependent size-controlled nucleation and growth of gold nanoclusters}, journal = {Journal of Physical Chemistry A}, volume = {103}, number = {49}, year = {1999}, note = {Mohamed, MB Wang, ZL El-Sayed, MA}, month = {Dec}, pages = {10255-10259}, abstract = {The electrochemical method of synthesis of gold nanorods in micelles gives substrate solutions that upon spotting and heating on a transmission electron microscope (TEM) substrate result in the nucleation and growth of small gold nanoclusters of narrow size distribution. The size of the nanoclusters, and not their numbers, is found to increased with increasing final temperature to which the substrate is heated. The data are fitted to a mechanism, based on Ostwald ripening in which atomic gold diffusion followed by nucleation on nucleating sites leads to the formation of these small clusters.}, isbn = {1089-5639}, doi = {10.1021/jp9919720}, author = {Mohamed, MB and Wang, Z.L. and El-Sayed, Mostafa A} } @article {1253, title = {Thermal reshaping of gold nanorods in micelles}, journal = {Journal of Physical Chemistry B}, volume = {102}, number = {47}, year = {1998}, note = {Mohamed, MB Ismail, KZ Link, S El-Sayed, MA}, month = {Nov}, pages = {9370-9374}, abstract = {Gold nanorods are prepared in aqueous solution by an electrochemical method and are shape controlled by using capping micelles as described by Yu et al. (J. Phys. Chem. B 1997, 101 (34), 6661). Transmission electron microscopic (TEM) images are determined for these gold nanorods, taken from solutions heated to various temperatures in the range of 25-160 degrees C. Size and shape analysis of their TEM images showed that the mean aspect ratio of the nanorods in solution decreases with increasing temperature, mostly as a result of reduction in their length. Heating the dried nanorods themselves on a TEM slide to much higher temperatures does not produce any shape changes. This suggests that the observed relative instability of the longer nanorods in the micellar solutions is attributed to the relative instability of the micelles capping the longer gold nanorods. Following the change with time of the longitudinal surface plasmon absorption band of the gold nanorods at five different temperatures, the activation energy for the thermal decomposition of the micelles is found to be 21.0 +/- 1.0 K cal mol(-1). The most stable rod-shaped micelle is found to have an aspect ratio of 2.0. The craft decomposition (dissolution) temperature of these micelles is found to be similar to 155 degrees C. This study offers a new method in which the thermal stability of micelles of various shapes is used to change the size distribution of metal nanorods in solution. On the other hand, TEM or the absorption maximum of the longitudinal plasmon resonance of gold nanorods can be used as a sensitive monitor in studying the physical properties of the host micelles themselves.}, isbn = {1089-5647}, doi = {10.1021/jp9831482}, author = {Mohamed, MB and Ismail, K. Z. and Link, Stephan and El-Sayed, Mostafa A} }