Effects of shape on the optical properties of CdSe@Au core-shell nanocomposites

We studied the local field enhancement factor (LFEF), absorption, and extinction cross sections of spherical, cylindrical, oblate, and prolate core–shell nanocomposites (NCs) theoretically and numerically using the quasi-static approach. By solving Laplace’s equations, we obtained expressions for the LFEF, polarizability, absorption, and scattering cross sections for each of the core–shell NCs. We found that the LFEF, absorption, and extinction cross section of spherical and cylindrical core–shell NCs possess two peaks whereas oblate and prolate spheroids show three observable peaks. Moreover, the prolate core–shell spheroid shows greater tunability and larger intensity of the LFEF than its corresponding oblate structure. Furthermore, spherical nanoshells are characterized by the higher LFEF than cylindrical and spheroidal core–shells of the same size and composition. When compared, even the smallest value of the LFEF of the spherical core–shell is 11.42 and 10.09 times larger than the biggest values of oblate and prolate core-shells, respectively. The study also indicated that for spherical and cylindrical NCs, the first two peaks of the LFEF and extinction cross sections are achieved at the same corresponding frequencies. Furthermore, all peaks of the extinction cross sections of the prolate spheroid are found to be the lowest while those of the cylindrical peaks are the highest. Where there are an equal number of peaks of different shapes, the peak values are different, showing that shapes of core–shell NCs determine the intensity, the number, and the positions of peaks of the LFEF and optical cross sections. Such NCs are promising for applications in optical sensing, bio-sensing, and electronic devices. Especially, gold coated core–shell spheroids have good potential applications in multi-channel sensing.