Plasmonic nanoflowers: Bioinspired manipulation of plasmonic architectures via active polymers

While technology relies on components defined in a fixed position on a rigid substrate, nature prefers soft substrates, and allows components to move significantly during morphogenesis. Taking inspiration from biological fabrication, we have developed a technique, called active polymer nanofabrication, which utilizes thermally active polymers to create complex nanoplasmonic substrates designed for molecular detection. We demonstrate the ability of active polymer nanofabrication to create ultra-dense nanoplasmonic prism arrays (plasmonic nanoflowers), and correlate changes in array morphology with optical properties. We investigate the associated changes in local electromagnetic fields with finite element analysis. Finally, we demonstrate the ability of active polymers to deform macroscopically while retaining nanostructure morphology. We expect these properties will make active polymer nanofabrication useful for a wide range of nanoplasmonic devices.