In Situ Photoreversible Tuning of Chemical Interface Damping in Single Gold Nanorods Through Cucurbit[8]uril-Based Host-Guest Interactions

Chemical interface damping (CID) is a recently proposed plasmon-damping pathway based on the interfacial hot-electron transfer from metal to adsorbate molecules. However, the in situ reversible tuning of CID in single gold nanorods (AuNRs) has remained a considerable challenge. In this study, we used total internal reflection scattering microscopy and spectroscopy to investigate the CID induced by p-aminoazobenzene (p-AAB), which has fast photoisomerization characteristics, attached to single AuNRs. We demonstrated the in situ reversible tuning of CID in single AuNRs by switching between ultraviolet (UV, 365 nm) and visible (vis, 465 nm) irradiation to induce photoresponsive structural conversions between the cis and trans forms of p-AAB in ethanol, leading to different lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) energies for both forms. The localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) line width was wide under vis irradiation but narrow under UV irradiation, indicating that hot electrons are more efficiently transferred to trans-p-AAB with a low LUMO energy level. We further investigated the in situ photoreversible tuning of CID by manipulating supramolecular host-guest interactions between cucurbit[8]uril (CB[8]) and p-AAB in the single AuNRs. Additionally, real-time in situ reversible tuning of CID in single AuNRs was achieved through photonic switching of the cis-trans forms of p-AAB inside CB[8]. The LSPR line width was narrow under vis irradiation but gradually widened under UV irradiation before narrowing again upon returning to vis irradiation, unlike the case with p-AAB only. These results can be ascribed to the fact that cis-p-AAB completely encapsulated within CB[8] in water is thermodynamically more favorable than trans-p-AAB. Therefore, we have discovered a new strategy for tuning the CID by performing p-AAB photoisomerization and adjusting the wavelength of incident light in single AuNRs. In addition, this study demonstrates that CID can be effectively applied to the development of biosensors to detect guest molecules and their structural changes inside the cavity of CB[8] in single AuNRs.

chemical interface damping; gold nanorod; localized surface plasmon resonance; photoreversible tuning; single-particle spectroscopy.