Fabrication of Flexible Plasmonic Nanoparticle Arrays with Sub-Wavelength Period Using Aluminum Sacrificial Layer and AAO Template Transfer

Abstract

Dynamic and tunable flexible plasmonic structures offer significant advantages in functional applications across various fields such as biosensing, photodetection, nonlinear optical devices, and quantum information processing, due to their multifunctionality, reversibility, and adaptability to complex environments. Among these, PDMS (polydimethylsiloxane), as a transparent and flexible substrate, is widely used. However, PDMS is a non-polar material with low surface energy, making it difficult for metal particles to adhere effectively. In practical applications, metal particles may detach due to stress concentration, leading to instability of the deposited metal particles over time. Here, we propose a method using an aluminum sacrificial layer anodized aluminum oxide (AAO) template transfer technique to fabricate flexible plasmonic nanoparticle arrays with subwavelength periodicity. This work designs more practical plasmonic nanostructures, providing a new pathway for dynamically tunable plasmonic systems.