Static and Dynamic Plasmon-Enhanced Light Scattering from Dispersions of Polymer-Grafted Silver Nanoprisms in the Bulk and Near Solid Surfaces

Polarized (VV) and depolarized (VH) static (SLS) and dynamic light scattering (DLS) experiments were conducted in dispersions of sterically stabilized silver nanoprisms in three different solvents where strong plasmon-enhanced scattering was observed. In the dilute regime, hydrodynamic sizes obtained from VV and VH were in good agreement with TEM data. VV correlation functions revealed two relaxation modes, reflecting the translational and rotational diffusions unambiguously. Increasing the concentration, the bimodal nature of the correlation functions was retained, and it appeared that the VH correlation function was more strongly influenced. Evanescent-wave DLS was shown to probe rotational and translational diffusion in the vicinity of a hard wall. It is suggested that DLS methodologies can be successfully applied to this type of metallic nanoparticles for characterization and exploration of their dynamics.