The field of plasmonics is capable of enabling interesting applications in different wavelength ranges, spanning from the ultraviolet up to the infrared. The choice of plasmonic material and how the material is nanostructured has significant implications for ultimate performance of any plasmonic device. Artificially designed nanoporous metals (NPMs) have interesting material properties including large specific surface area, distinctive optical properties, high electrical conductivity, and reduced stiffness, implying their potentials for many applications. This paper reviews the wide range of available nanoporous metals (such as Au, Ag, Cu, Al, Mg, and Pt), mainly focusing on their properties as plasmonic materials. While extensive reports on the use and characterization of NPMs exist, a detailed discussion on their connection with surface plasmons and enhanced spectroscopies as well as photocatalysis is missing. Here, we report on different metals investigated, from the most used nanoporous gold to mixed metal compounds, and discuss each of these plasmonic materials’ suitability for a range of structural design and applications. Finally, we discuss the potentials and limitations of the traditional and alternative plasmonic materials for applications in enhanced spectroscopy and photocatalysis.

This mini-review reports the most recent results on plasmonic nanocavities applied to enhanced single-molecule detection and spectroscopy.

Plasmonic nanocavities have proved to confine electromagnetic fields into deep subwavelength volumes, implying their potentials for enhanced optical trapping and sensing of nanoparticles. In this review, the fundamentals and performances of various plasmonic nanocavity geometries are explored with specific emphasis on trapping and detection of small molecules and single nanoparticles. These applications capitalize on the local field intensity, which in turn depends on the size of plasmonic nanocavities. Indeed, properly designed structures provide significant local field intensity and deep trapping potential, leading to manipulation of nano‐objects with low laser power. The relationship between optical trapping‐induced resonance shift and potential energy of plasmonic nanocavity can be analytically expressed in terms of the intercavity field intensity. Within this framework, recent experimental works on trapping and sensing of single nanoparticles and small molecules with plasmonic nanotweezers are discussed. Furthermore, significant consideration is given to conjugation of optical tweezers with Raman spectroscopy, with the aim of developing innovative biosensors. These devices, which take the advantages of plasmonic nanocavities, will be capable of trapping and detecting nanoparticles at the single molecule level.

In the past 20 years, we have reached a broad understanding of many light-driven phenomena in nanoscale systems. The temporal dynamics of the excited states are instead quite challenging to explore, and, at the same time, crucial to study for understanding the origin of fundamental physical and chemical processes. In this review, we examine the current state and prospects of ultrafast phenomena driven by plasmons both from a fundamental and applied point of view. This research area is referred to as ultrafast plasmonics and represents an outstanding playground to tailor and control fast optical and electronic processes at the nanoscale, such as ultrafast optical switching, single photon emission, and strong coupling interactions to tailor photochemical reactions. Here, we provide an overview of the field and describe the methodologies to monitor and control nanoscale phenomena with plasmons at ultrafast timescales in terms of both modeling and experimental characterization. Various directions are showcased, among others recent advances in ultrafast plasmon-driven chemistry and multi-functional plasmonics, in which charge, spin, and lattice degrees of freedom are exploited to provide active control of the optical and electronic properties of nanoscale materials. As the focus shifts to the development of practical devices, such as all-optical transistors, we also emphasize new materials and applications in ultrafast plasmonics and highlight recent development in the relativistic realm. The latter is a promising research field with potential applications in fusion research or particle and light sources providing properties such as attosecond duration.

Plasmonic nanostructures have attracted considerable attention for their ability to couple with light and provide strong electromagnetic energy confinement at subwavelength dimensions. The absorbed portion of the captured electromagnetic energy can lead to significant heating of both the nanostructure and its surroundings, resulting in a rich set of nanoscale thermal processes that defines the subfield of thermoplasmonics with applications ranging from nanochemistry and nanobiology to optoelectronics. Recently, phononic nanostructures have started to attract attention as a platform for manipulation of phonons, enabling control over heat propagation and/or mechanical vibrations. The complex interaction phenomena between photons, electrons, and phonons require appropriate modelling strategies to design nanodevices that simultaneously explore and exploit the optical, thermal, and mechanical degrees of freedom. Examples of such devices are micro‐ and nanoscale opto‐thermo‐mechanical systems for sensing, imaging, energy conversion, and harvesting applications. Here, an overview of the fundamental theory and concepts crucial to the modelling of plasmo‐phonon devices is provided. Particular attention is given to micro‐ and nanoscale modelling frameworks, highlighting their validity ranges and the experimental works that contributed to their validation and led to compelling applications. Finally, an open‐ended outlook focused on emerging applications at the intersection between plasmonics and phononics is presented.

The unique property of a charge transfer plasmon (CTP) that emerges in conductively bridged plasmonic nanoparticles makes linked nanosystems suitable candidates for building artificial molecules, nanomotors, sensors, and other optoelectronic devices. In this focused review, we present recent theoretical and experimental developments in fundamentals and applications of CTPs in conductively coupled metallic nanoparticles of various sizes and shapes. The underlying physics of charge transfer in linked nanoparticles with nanometer- and atomic-scale inter-particle gap is described from both classical and quantum mechanical perspectives. In addition, we present a detailed discussion of mechanisms of controlling charge transfer and tuning the corresponding CTP spectra in bridged nanoparticles as functions of junction conductance and nanoparticle parameters. Furthermore, the active control of reversible switching between capacitive and conductive coupling in plasmonic nanoshell particles and dynamic evolution of related plasmon modes are emphasized. Finally, after highlighting the implication of the CTP resonance shift for surface-based sensing applications, we end up with the current challenges and future outlooks of the topic that need to be addressed.