Abstract

The rather low scattering or extinction efficiency of small nanoparticles, metallic and otherwise, is significantly enhanced when they are adsorbed on a larger core particle. But the photoabsorption by particles with varying surface area fractions on a larger core particle is found to be limited by saturation. It is found that the core-shell particle can have a lower absorption efficiency than a dielectric core with its surface partially nucleated with absorbing particles—an “incomplete nanoshell” particle. We have both numerically and experimentally studied the optical efficiencies of titania (${\mathrm{TiO}}_2$) nucleated in various degrees on silica (${\mathrm{SiO}}_2$) nanospheres. We show that optimal surface nucleation over cores of appropriate sizes and optical properties will have a direct impact on the applications exploiting the absorption and scattering properties of such composite particles.

© 2013 Optical Society of America

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