Project Description

This project aims at establishing a novel assembly route for metamaterials, which is upscalable to macroscopic areas and greatly reduces processing effort. The methodology relies on the synthesis of tailored colloidal building blocks, so-called meta-atoms, which combine metals and insulators in a well defined geometry. These meta-atoms will subsequently be assembled into hierarchical structures using templates fabricated by controlled wrinkling of elastomeric substrates. The use of mechanical instabilities in template formation eliminates lithographic steps in materials assembly. Structures and assembly processes will be optimized based on theory and simulation and morphological and optical properties will be investigated on meta-atom and metamaterials level.

We target negative-index metamaterials, metamaterials for transformation optics and a new class of elastically deformable metamaterials. Upscaling of metamaterial formation on macroscopic dimensions will become feasible and the materials will become available for a broader academic and industrial community, making them in the mid-term available for applications in energy (light harvesting, light concentrators), information (manipulation of light flow) and medical technology (sensing).

Project Manager

Prof. Dr. Andreas Fery

Project staff

Dr. Christian Kuttner

Dr. Andre Knapp

M.Sc. Bernhard Glatz

M.Sc. Martin Mayer

M.Sc. Max Schnepf

M.Sc. Roland Höller

M.Sc. Anja Maria Steiner

Publications

[1] Höller, R. P. M.; Dulle, M.; Thomä, S.; Mayer, M.; Steiner, A. M.; Förster, S.; Fery, A.; Kuttner, C.; Chanana, M., Protein-Assisted Assembly of Modular 3D Plasmonic Raspberry-like Core/Satellite Nanoclusters: Correlation of Structure and Optical Properties, ACS Nano, Vol., Issue (2016).

[2] Mayer, M.; Tebbe, M.; Kuttner, C.; Schnepf, M. J.; Koenig, T. A. F.; Fery, A., Template-Assisted Colloidal Self-Assembly of Macroscopic Magnetic Metasurfaces, Faraday Discussions, Vol., Issue, (2015).

[3] Karg, M.; König, T. A. F.; Retsch, M.; Stelling, C.; Reichstein, P. M.; Honold, T.; Thelakkat, M.; Fery, A., Colloidal self-assembly concepts for light management in photovoltaics, Materials Today, 18, 4 (2015).

[4] Tebbe, M.; Kuttner, C.; Mayer, M.; Maennel, M.; Pazos-Perez, N.; König, T. A. F.; Fery , A., Silver-Overgrowth-Induced Changes in Intrinsic Optical Properties of Gold Nanorods: From Noninvasive Monitoring of Growth Kinetics to Tailoring Internal Mirror Charges, J. Phys. Chem. C, 119, 17 (2015).

[5] Tebbe, M.; Kuttner, C.; Männel, M.; Fery, A.; Chanana, M., Colloidally Stable and Surfactant-Free Protein-Coated Gold Nanorods in Biological Media, Appl. Mater. Interf. 7, 10 (2015).

[6] Glatz, B. A.; Tebbe , M.; Kaoui, B.; Aichele, R.; Kuttner, C.; Schedl, A. E.; Schmidt, H.-W.; Zimmermann, W.; Fery, A., Hierarchical line-defect patterns in wrinkled surfaces, Soft Matter, 11, 17 (2015).

[7] Tebbe, M.; Mayer, M.; Glatz, B. A.; Hanske, C.; Probst, P. T.; Müller, M. B.; Karg, M.; Chanana, M.; König, T. A. F.; Kuttner, C.; Fery, A., Optically anisotropic substrates via wrinkle-assisted convective assembly of gold nanorods on macroscopic areas, Faraday Discussions, 181 (2015).

[8] Hanske, C.; Tebbe, M.; Kuttner, C.; Bieber, V.; Tsukruk, V. V.; Chanana, M.; König, T. A. F.; Fery, A., Strongly Coupled Plasmonic Modes on Macroscopic Areas via Template-Assisted Colloidal Self-Assembly, Nano Letters, 14, 12 (2014).

[9] Tebbe, M.; Maennel, M.; Fery, A.; Pazos-Perez, N.; Alvarez-Puebla, R. A., Organized Solid Thin Films of Gold Nanorods with Different Sizes for Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering Applications, J. Phys. Chem. C, 118, 48 (2014).

[10] Tebbe, M.; Cherepanov, P.; Skorb, E. V.; Poznyak, S. K.; García de Abajo, J.; Fery, A.; Andreeva, D. V.; Alvarez Puebla, R. A.; Pazos-Perez, N., SERS Platforms of Plasmonic Hydrophobic Surfaces for Analyte Concentration: Hierarchically Assembled Gold Nanorods on Anodized Aluminum, Particle and Particle Systems Characterization, 31, 11 (2014).

[11] Müller, M. B.; Kuttner, C.; König, T. A. F.; Tsukruk, V. V.; Förster, S.; Karg, M.; Fery, A., Plasmonic Library Based on Substrate-Supported Gradiential Plasmonic Arrays, ACS Nano, 8, 9 (2014).

[12] Kuttner, C.; Maier, P. C.; Kunert, C.; Schlaad, H.; Fery, A., Direct Thiol–Ene Photocoating of Polyorganosiloxane Microparticles, Langmuir, 29, 52 (2013).

[13] Kraus, T.; Brodoceanu, D.; Pazos-Perez,N.; Fery, A., Colloidal Surface Assemblies: Nanotechnology Meets Bioinspiration, Adv. Func. Mater. 23, 36 (2013)

[14] Alba, M.; Pazos-Perez, N.; Vaz, B.; Formentin, P.; Tebbe, M.; Correa-Duarte, M. A.; Granero, P.; Ferré-Borrull, J.; Alvarez, R.; Pallares, J.; Fery ,A.; de Lera, A. R.; Marsal, L. F.; Alvarez-Puebla, R. A., Macroscale Plasmonic Substrates for Highly Sensitive Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering, Angew. Chem. 52, 25 (2013).

[15] Pazos-Pérez, N.; Wagner, C. S.; Romo-Herrera, J. M.; Liz-Marzan, L. M.; Garcia de Abajo, F. J.; Wittemann, A.; Fery. A.; Alvarez-Puebla, R. A., Organized Plasmonic Clusters with High Coordination Number and Extraordinary Enhancement in Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering (SERS). Angew. Chem. 51, 51 (2012).

Financial Support

This project is funded by the European Research Council, established by the European Commission.