Light-induced reversible expansion of individual gold nanoplates

Light-induced mechanical response of materials has been extensively investigated and widely utilized to convert light energy into mechanical energy directly. The metallic nanomaterials have excellent photothermal properties and show enormous potential in micromechanical actuators, etc. However, the photo-thermo-mechanical properties of individual metallic nanostructures have yet to be well investigated. Here, we experimentally demonstrate a way to realize light-induced reversible expansion of individual gold nanoplates on optical microfibers. The light-induced thermal expansion coefficient is obtained as 21.4 ± 4.6 ∼ 31.5 ± 4.2 μ·K-1 when the light-induced heating temperature of the gold nanoplates is 240 ∼ 490 °C. The photo-thermo-mechanical response time of the gold nanoplates is about 0.3 ± 0.1 s. This insight into the photo-thermo-mechanical properties of the gold nanoplates could deepen the understanding of the light-induced reversible expansion behavior in nanoscale and pave the way for applications based on this piezoelectric-like response, such as light-driven metallic micromotors.