Plasmonic heating assisted deposition of bare Au nanoparticles on titania nanoshells.

A very simple procedure for depositing bare Au nanoparticles onto the surface of oxide nanoshells is presented. This method is based on plasmonic heating assisted processes which are triggered by a continuous wave laser source that is focused through the objective of a Raman microscope. The Au nanoparticles are obtained upon laser irradiation of colloidal crystals consisting of Au semishells buried in titania overlayers. SERS activity and heating effects induced by laser irradiation are demonstrated in a series of microRaman experiments.