Polymer-Patched Plasmonic Nanoparticles

Review Polymer-Patched Plasmonic Nanoparticles Chansong Kim 1, Xiaoying Lin 1, Jiyeon Kim 1, Yangming Wang 1, and Qian Chen 1,2,3,4,* 1 Department of Materials Science and Engineering, the Grainger College of Engineering, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL 61801, USA 2 Materials Research Laboratory, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL 61801, USA 3 Department of Chemistry, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL 61801, USA 4 Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL 61801, USA * Correspondence: [email protected] Received: 3 March 2025; Revised: 22 March 2025; Accepted: 25 March 2025; Published: 29 March 2025 Abstract: In this work, we discuss advancements at the intersection of surface patchiness design and plasmonic nanoparticles. Surface patchiness design, inspired by nature’s strategy to encode complex functions by spatially distributed surface patterns, has become increasingly popular in nanoparticle research. The surface patterns lead to their nonuniformity in chemical and physical properties, enabling not only their application as functional hybrid nanomaterials but as building blocks for self-assembly through directional interactions for applications in catalysis, biomedicine, sensing, robotics, and metamaterials. When surface patchiness design is implemented on plasmonic nanoparticles, interesting coupling of plasmonic resonance emerges from self-assembly structures not easily available from non-patchy nanoparticles. This direction is rapidly evolving and we review efforts in the synthesis, self-assembly, and applications of plasmonic patchy nanoparticles. We conclude with outlook discussions of the future opportunities of this field.