Quantification of Gold Nanoparticle Ultraviolet–Visible Extinction, Absorption, and Scattering Cross-Section Spectra and Scattering Depolarization Spectra: The Effects of Nanoparticle Geometry, Solvent Composition, Ligand Functionalization, and Nanoparticle Aggregation

Using the recent polarized resonance synchronous spectroscopic (PRS2) technique, we reported the quantification of photon extinction, absorption, scattering cross-section spectra, and scattering depolarization spectra for AuNPs of different sizes and shapes. The effects of the solvent composition, ligand functionalization, and nanoparticle aggregation on the AuNP photon absorption and scattering have also been experimentally quantified. The light scattering depolarization is close to 0 for gold nanospheres (AuNSs) crossing the entire UV–vis region but is strongly wavelength-dependent for gold nanorods (AuNRs). Increasing the dielectric constant of the medium surrounding AuNPs either by solvents or ligand adsorption increases photon absorption and scattering but has no significant impact on the AuNP scattering depolarization. Nanoparticle aggregation increases AuNP photon scattering. However, even the extensively aggregated AuNPs remain predominantly photon absorbers with photon scattering-to-extinction ratios all less than 0.03 for the investigated AuNP aggregates at the AuNP peak extinction wavelength. The AuNP scattering depolarization initially increases with the AuNP aggregation but decreases when aggregation further progresses. The insights from this study are important for a wide range of AuNP applications that involve photon/matter interactions, while the provided methodology is directly applicable for experimental quantification of optical properties for nanomaterials that are commonly simultaneously photon absorbers and scatterers.