Céline Molinaro IS2M – PHOTON

Metallic nanoparticles (NPs) exhibit unique properties derived from their plasmonic behavior. When illuminated under specific conditions, these NPs host localized surface plasmons, inducing a collective oscillation of electrons at the metal-dielectric interface. This phenomenon gives rise to three effects : local field enhancement, hot electron/hole pair generation, and heat production.

My research focuses on the latter effect, thermoplasmonic heat generation, by leveraging thermal polymers to map the temperature of NPs upon illumination, both at the millimetric [1] and nanometric scales [2,3] (see figure above). Here, the polymer serves a dual role, enabling both temperature cartography and the formation of hybrid NPs.

References

1. C. Molinaro et al., Chemical Method Based on Thermally Activated Free Radical Polymerization to Determine the Temperature in Thermoplasmonics, ACS Applied Polymer Materials, 2024.

2. C. Molinaro et al., Controlled Polymerization at macroscale and nanoscale through thermoplasmonics, Plasmonics, 2025.

3. A. Khitous et al., Unveiling Localized Plasmonic Activation comparing Photochemically and Thermally Initiated Polymerization, ChemRxiv, 2025.