Determination of dielectric functions of colloidal silver nanoparticles
摘要
Dielectric functions play a pivotal role in the interaction of light with nanoscale matter. They determine all optical properties, including dispersion, absorption, scattering, reflection, transmittance, and polarization. In this study, we present a method for extracting dielectric functions from UV-Vis spectra of monodisperse colloidal silver nanoparticles, offering an alternative to standard experimental techniques within the constrained wavelength range of 400 to 600 nm. The approach utilizes a developed Mie scattering fitting function, incorporating additional conditions on the dielectric function behavior at the localized surface plasmon resonance wavelength. It enables the extraction of universal dielectric functions from UV-Vis data at localized surface plasmon resonance points by knowing absorbance and wavelength as well as concentrations of colloidal nanoparticles and optical path length. The universality of dielectric functions makes them applicable for fitting of UV-Vis spectra of colloidal silver nanoparticles of an a priori unknown sizes within the diameter range of 20 to 100 nm with possible extension to bigger sizes. Once determined, these dielectric functions can be directly applied to UV-Vis spectra to ascertain the size and concentration of monodisperse silver nanoparticles’ colloidal solutions.