ZnO-Au Hybrid Metamaterial Thin Films with Tunable Optical Properties

Bhatt, Nirali A.; Paldi, Robynne L.; Barnard, James P.; Lu, Juanjuan; He, Zihao; Yang, Bo; Shen, Chao; Song, Jiawei; Sarma, Raktim; Siddiqui, Aleem; Wang, Haiyan

doi:10.3390/cryst14010065

Open AccessArticle

ZnO-Au Hybrid Metamaterial Thin Films with Tunable Optical Properties

by

Nirali A. Bhatt

¹,

Robynne L. Paldi

¹,

James P. Barnard

¹

,

Juanjuan Lu

¹,

Zihao He

²,

Bo Yang

¹

,

Chao Shen

¹,

Jiawei Song

¹,

Raktim Sarma

³,

Aleem Siddiqui

³ and

Haiyan Wang

^1,2,*

¹

School of Materials Engineering, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA

²

School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA

³

Sandia National Laboratory, Albuquerque, NM 87123, USA

^*

Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Crystals 2024, 14(1), 65; https://doi.org/10.3390/cryst14010065

Submission received: 30 November 2023 / Revised: 3 January 2024 / Accepted: 3 January 2024 / Published: 6 January 2024

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Synthesis and Application of Nanocomposite Materials)

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Abstract

ZnO-Au nanocomposite thin films have been previously reported as hybrid metamaterials with unique optical properties such as plasmonic resonance properties and hyperbolic behaviors. In this study, Au composition in the ZnO-Au nanocomposites has been effectively tuned by target composition variation and thus resulted in microstructure and optical property tuning. Specifically, all the ZnO-Au nanocomposite thin films grown through the pulsed laser deposition (PLD) method show obvious vertically aligned nanocomposite (VAN) structure with the Au nanopillars embedded in the ZnO matrix. Moreover, the average diameter of Au nanopillars increases as Au concentration increases, which also leads to the redshifts in the surface plasmon resonance (SPR) wavelength and changes in the hyperbolic behaviors of the films. As a whole, this work discusses how strain-driven tuning of optical properties and microstructure resulted through a novel Au concentration variation approach which has not been previously attempted in the ZnO-Au thin film system. These highly ordered films present great promise in the areas of sensing, waveguides, and nanophotonics to name a few.

Keywords: hyperbolic metamaterials; surface plasmon resonance; vertically aligned nanocomposites; strain-driven tuning

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MDPI and ACS Style

Bhatt, N.A.; Paldi, R.L.; Barnard, J.P.; Lu, J.; He, Z.; Yang, B.; Shen, C.; Song, J.; Sarma, R.; Siddiqui, A.; et al. ZnO-Au Hybrid Metamaterial Thin Films with Tunable Optical Properties. Crystals 2024, 14, 65. https://doi.org/10.3390/cryst14010065

AMA Style

Bhatt NA, Paldi RL, Barnard JP, Lu J, He Z, Yang B, Shen C, Song J, Sarma R, Siddiqui A, et al. ZnO-Au Hybrid Metamaterial Thin Films with Tunable Optical Properties. Crystals. 2024; 14(1):65. https://doi.org/10.3390/cryst14010065

Chicago/Turabian Style

Bhatt, Nirali A., Robynne L. Paldi, James P. Barnard, Juanjuan Lu, Zihao He, Bo Yang, Chao Shen, Jiawei Song, Raktim Sarma, Aleem Siddiqui, and et al. 2024. "ZnO-Au Hybrid Metamaterial Thin Films with Tunable Optical Properties" Crystals 14, no. 1: 65. https://doi.org/10.3390/cryst14010065

APA Style

Bhatt, N. A., Paldi, R. L., Barnard, J. P., Lu, J., He, Z., Yang, B., Shen, C., Song, J., Sarma, R., Siddiqui, A., & Wang, H. (2024). ZnO-Au Hybrid Metamaterial Thin Films with Tunable Optical Properties. Crystals, 14(1), 65. https://doi.org/10.3390/cryst14010065

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ZnO-Au Hybrid Metamaterial Thin Films with Tunable Optical Properties

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