Nanosecond Time-Resolution Study of Gold Nanorod Rotation at the Liquid-Solid Interface.

Early studies showed that the adsorption of nanorods may start from a special "anchored" state, in which the nanorods lose translational motion but retain rotational freedom. Insight into how the anchored nanorods rotate should provide additional dimensions for understanding particle-surface interactions. Based on conventional time-resolution studies, gold nanorods are thought to continuously rotate following initial interactions with negatively charged glass surfaces. However, this nanosecond time-resolution study reveals that the apparent continuous rotation actually consists of numerous fast, intermittent rotations or transitions between a small number of weakly immobilized states, with the particle resting in the immobilized states most of the time. The actual rotation from one immobilized state to the other happens on a 1 ms timescale, that is, approximately 50 times slower than in the bulk solution.