Cover story: Huang X, Shi Z Y, Song M X, et al. Preparation and optical characterization of large-area self-assembled gold nanoparticle superlattice films[J]. Opto-Electron Eng, 2024, 51(6): 240048

Self-assembly of noble metal nanoparticles into superlattices can couple with plasmonic modes and light fields, holding significant promise in enhanced spectroscopy and sensing applications. However, controlling the number of layers in these self-assembled superlattice films is challenging, and small sample sizes limit their potential applications. In this study, based on a wetting-enhanced interfacial self-assembly method, we demonstrate the rapid and large-scale fabrication of monolayer densely packed nanoparticle films. Additionally, a layer-by-layer stacking method is employed to fabricate large-area, uniformly distributed gold nanoparticle superlattice films with different numbers of layers. Both experimental and computational transmission/reflection spectra indicate that the prepared superlattice samples effectively excite plasmonic modes, and higher-order plasmonic modes can also be efficiently excited with increasing superlattice layers. Moreover, adjusting the nanoparticle size enables effective modulation of the resonance peak positions of plasmonic modes. These findings provide an effective approach for the large-scale fabrication of high-quality nanoparticle superlattice films, holding promise for the design of high-performance micro/nano photonic devices.