Optical sensing and biosensing based on non-spherical noble metal nanoparticles.

Non-spherical noble metal nanoparticles (NPs) have widely tunable localized surface plasmon resonance, very high extinction coefficient, and strongly facet-dependent adsorption/binding properties. A few non-spherical noble metal NPs have been employed as reporters and/or modulators for various optical sensing. This review summarizes recent progress in the study of design, performance, and application of colorimetric and fluorescent sensing/biosensing systems based on three kinds of non-spherical noble metal NPs with different dimension, namely, one- (or quasi-one) dimensional nanorods, two-dimensional nanoplates, and three-dimensional nanodendritics; furthermore, the future developments in this research area are also discussed.