Optical thin film filters of colloidal gold and silica nanoparticles prepared by a layer-by-layer self-assembly method

A novel fabrication method for optical thin film filters based on the self-organization of alternating layers of colloidal gold and silica nanoparticles (NP) is reported. The filter is designed to work in the deep-UV to visible spectral range. The spectral absorption peaks are tuned by three parameters: the organic capping ligand of the gold NPs (citrate, chitosan, poly (diallyl-dimethylammonium)-chloride or PDDA); the capping environment (bare, chitosan, or PDDA) of the silica NPs and the thickness of the film. Precise control of the transmission color (less than 1% color distance per layer), is achieved by changing the film thickness. Exploitation of the self-assembly process should lead to the facile production of highly reliable large area thin film optical filters at considerably lower costs.