Gold Nanoparticle Plasmon Coupling Illuminates Thermal Sensing Possibilities

Researchers from North Carolina State University have described a method for achieving desirable optical properties by stretching shape-memory polymers embedded with gold nanoparticle clusters so as to alter their plasmon-coupling capabilities. The method supports an all-optical thermal history sensor that could be applied to either an object or an environment. Upon stretching the shape-memory polymer film that the researchers used past its original length by 140%, they were able to determine the highest temperature to which the polymer is exposed (up to 248 °F/120 °C) by measuring how much it has shrunk back to its original size. From the plasmon-coupled nanoparticles present in the system, the researchers showed their...