Metallic nanoparticles (NPs) have many useful properties, in particular some NPs have unique optical qualities while interacting with light known as surface plasmon resonance (SPR).  Localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) phenomenon refers to the collective electron oscillations in metal nanomaterials upon light excitation. This generates a zone of influence around the nanomaterial where physical and chemical processes are spectacularly enhanced.
In our research projects, we aim at using LSPR to either enhance molecular processes or develop bright molecular probes.
First, we explore the advantages of LSPR to enhance catalytic processes. Catalysis is widely used in synthetic chemistry to accelerate the rate of reactions and minimize the generation of by-products and waste, leading to considerable economic and environmental benefits. Nowadays a great variety of catalysts can be found to enhance organic reactions, however some of them still request a lot of energy to operate and long reaction times are necessary to reach completion. In this frame, we thus explore how LSPR can enhance known challenging catalytic reactions. In our strategy we associate an efficient known molecular catalyst with LSPR and develop new plasmonic nanocatalysts. This entails the grafting of efficient molecular catalysts onto metal nanostructures, thereby subjecting these catalysts to the advantageous effects of LSPR, consequently elevating their catalytic activity (faster kinetics and reduced energy consumption).
In addition, LSPR allows to greatly enhance the spectroscopic features of molecules located in the vicinity of plasmonic nanoparticles. We use this feature to monitor by Raman spectroscopy the evolution of the local pH on the nanometre scale near an electrode, thanks to specially designed molecular pH probes. This provides previous information for the development of more performant batteries.