We systematically investigated the size- and shape-dependent SERS activities of plasmonic core–shell nanoparticles towards detection of the pesticide thiram. Monodisperse Au@Ag nanocubes (NCs) and Au@Ag nanocuboids (NBs) were synthesized and their Ag shell thickness was precisely adjusted from ∼1 nm to ∼16 nm. All these nanoparticles were used as SERS substrates for thiram detection, and the Raman intensities with three different lasers (514 nm, 633 nm and 782 nm) were recorded and compared. Our results clearly show that: (1) the excitation wavelength discriminated particle shapes regardless of particle sizes, and the maximized Raman enhancement was observed when the excitation wavelength approaches the SERS peak (provided there is significant local electric field confinement on the plasmonic nanostructures at that wavelength); (2) at the optimized laser wavelength, the maximum Raman enhancement was achieved at a certain threshold of particle size (or silver coating thickness). By exciting particles at their optimized sizes with the corresponding optimized laser wavelengths, we achieved a detection limit of roughly around 100 pM and 80 pM for NCs and NBs, respectively.

Ultralow-density metal aerogel monoliths were successfully fabricated from copper nanowires. Their conductivity, mechanical strength and surface wetting properties were finely tunable.

A new near-infrared light-controlled drug delivery system based on caged gold nanorods (CGNRs) is demonstrated. The loading and release process of drug payloads into/from CGNR nanocarriers were systematically investigated. The drug-loaded CGNR constructs could enable combined chemotherapy and photo-thermal effects in killing tumor cells upon light irradiation, therefore, enhance the killing efficiency. In conjunction with visibility under quenching-free dark-field imaging, CGNRs may serve as multifunctional theranostic reagents towards cancer diagnostics and therapeutics.