The poor adhesion and chemical and thermal stability of plasmonic nanostructures deposited on solid surfaces are a hindrance to the longevity and long-term development of robust localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR)-based systems. In this paper, we have deposited gold (Au) nanolayers with thicknesses above the percolation limit over glass substrates and have used a thermal annealing treatment at a temperature above the substrate's glass transition temperature to promote the dewetting, recrystallization, and thermal embedding of Au nanoparticles (NPs). Due to the partial embedding in glass, the NPs were strongly adherent to the surface of the substrate and were able to resist to the commonly used cleaning procedures and mechanical adhesion tests alike. The reflectivity of the embedded nanostructures was studied and shown to be strongly dependent on the NP size/shape distributions and on the degree of NP embedding. Strong optical scattering bands with increasing width and redshifted LSPR peak position were observed with the Au content. Refractive index sensitivity (RIS) values between 150 and 360 nm/RIU (concerning LSPR band edge shift) or between 32 and 72 nm/RIU (concerning LSPR peak position shift) were obtained for the samples having narrower LSPR extinction bands. These robust LSPR sensors can be used following a simple excitation/detection scheme consisting of a reflectance measurement at a fixed angle and wavelength.
Keywords: Au nanoparticles (NPs); localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) sensing; thermal dewetting; thermal embedding.