Integration of plasmonic nanoparticles in 3D printing

Compression molding is an effective high volume and net-shape fabrication method for aspherical lenses and precision glass optical components in general. Geometrical deviation (or curve change as often referred to in industry) incurred during heating, molding, and cooling processes is a critically important manufacturing quality parameter. In the compression glass molding process, there are many factors that could lead to curve change in final products, such as thermal expansion, stress and structural relaxation, and inhomogeneous temperature distribution inside the molding machine. In this research, an integrated numerical simulation scheme was developed to predict curve change in molded glass aspherical lenses. The geometrical deviation in the final lens shape was analyzed using both an experimental approach and a numerical simulation with a finite element method program. Specifically, numerical simulation was compared with experimental results to validate the proposed manufacturing approach. The measurements showed that the difference between numerical simulation and experimental results was less than 2 mu m. Based on the comparison, the mold curve was revised using numerical simulation in order to produce more accurate lens shapes. The glass lenses molded using the compensated molds showed a much better agreement with the design value than the lenses molded without compensation. It has been demonstrated in this research that numerical simulation can be used to predict the final geometrical shape of compression molded precision glass components. This research provided an opportunity for optical manufacturers to achieve a lower production cost and a shorter cycle time

Chiral plasmonic response of 2D Ti3C2Tx flakes: realization and applications

The circularly polarized light sensitive materials response can be reached at plasmon wavelengths through the coupling of intrinsically non-chiral plasmonic nanostructure with chiral organic molecules. As a plasmonic background, the different types of metal nanoparticles of various shapes and sizes are successfully tested and an apparent circular dichroism (CD) signal is measured in both, nanoparticles suspensions and after nanoparticle immobilization in substrate. In this work, the creation of plasmon-active 2D flakes of MXenes (Ti3C2Tx) is proposed, with the apparent CD response at plasmon wavelength, through the coupling of intrinsically non-chiral flakes with helically shaped helicene enantiomers. This work provides the first demonstration of chiral and plasmon-active 2D material, which shows the absorption sensitive to light intrinsic circular polarization even in plasmon wavelengths range. The appearance of the induced CD signal is additionally confirmed by several theoretical calculations. After the experimental and theoretical confirmation of the optical chirality at plasmon wavelengths, the flakes are utilized for the polarization sensitive conversion of light to heat, as well as for polarization dependent triggering of plasmon-assisted chemical transformation

Radical-based tuning the surface functionality of MXene

The family of MAX phases and their derivative MXenes are continuously growing in terms of both crystalline and composition varieties. MXenes are a new family of two-dimensional (2D) transition metal carbides, carbonitrides and nitrides, with a general formula Mn+1AXn, where n = 1–3, M denotes a transition metal, A is an element such as aluminum or silicon, and X is either carbon or nitrogen. Considering the various elemental composition possibilities, surface functional tunability, various magnetic orders, and large spin–orbit coupling, MXene can truly be considered as multifunctional materials that can be used to realize highly correlated phenomena