PLASMONIC NANOMATERIALS: PART I. FUNDAMENTALS OF NANOPARTICLE SPECTROSCOPY AND ITS RELATION WITH THE SERS EFFECT

We perform an analysis of plasmonic nanomaterials in a two part review, the first of which constitutes the present work. Here, attention is given to the fundamentals of metal nanoparticle optical properties. It is discussed the principles regarding the excitation of localized surface plasmon modes in nanostructures of different sizes, shapes and surrounding media. The discussion is used as basis for the analysis of local properties derived from such excitations, which are used for the introduction of surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS). Throughout the review, the fundamentals of plasmonic excitations and their mechanisms of relaxation are used to introduce chemical applications of metal nanoparticles in different areas such as the construction of analytical chemistry sensor devices, enhanced molecular spectroscopy and plasmon-mediated chemical reactions (also referred to as plasmonic photocatalysis).