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Copyright 2004 by Marcel Dekker, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Copyright 2004 by Marcel Dekker, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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following the laser excitation appear to be independent of the nanoparticlesize and shape and resemble those in bulk metals. This observation indicatesthat electron-surface collisions are primarily elastic and do not change theelectron’s energy.An interesting effect of shape transformation of gold nanorods intospherical nanoparticles is observed in colloidal solutions irradiated with intenselaser pulses. The size/shape of nanoparticles produced <strong>by</strong> irradiationdepends on both the energy and the duration of laser pulses. Under appropriateexcitation conditions, a narrowing of the nanorod distribution can beachieved with femtosecond laser pulses. This result implies that laser irradiationcan be used to selectively reshape metallic nanoparticles (nanoscale laser‘‘machining’’). However, it also imposes some limitations on the use of metalnanoparticles in applications that require high laser powers.One possible direction in the research on shape transformation is thestudy of laser-induced shape changes for colloidal metal nanoparticles indifferent media/solvents. These studies will provide new insights into themechanisms for energy transfer from ‘‘hot’’ particles to the surrounding medium.The timescales of heating and cooling should determine the possibleshape changes as was discussed in this chapter <strong>by</strong> comparing results forfemtosecond and nanosecond excitations. Furthermore, the study of singlemetal nanoparticles could help to overcome problems associated with thepolydispersity of colloidal samples. Large extinction coefficients make singleparticlestudies possible, which was already demonstrated <strong>by</strong> absorption andscattering measurements on single silver and gold nanoparticles of differentsizes and shapes.ACKNOWLEDGMENTSWe wish to acknowledge our collaborators who contributed to this work: Z.L. Wang, C. Burda, B. Nikoobakht, and M. B. Mohamed. The support ofthe National Science Foundation, Division of Materials Research (grantNo. 0138391) is greatly appreciated.REFERENCES1. Henglein, A. J. Phys. Chem. 1993, 97, 8457.2. Brus, L.E. Appl. Phys. A 1991, 53, 465.3. Alivisatos, A.P. Science 1996, 271, 933.4. Mulvaney, P. Langmuir 1996, 12, 788.<strong>Copyright</strong> <strong>2004</strong> <strong>by</strong> <strong>Marcel</strong> <strong>Dekker</strong>, <strong>Inc</strong>. <strong>All</strong> <strong>Rights</strong> <strong>Reserved</strong>.

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