Plasmonic Bubbles in Binary Liquids

When metal nanoparticles submerged in a liquid are exposed to a laser they can produce abundant heat via surface plasmon resonance. The heat is transferred to the surrounding liquid and leads to the nucleation and growth of a plasmonic bubble. In this thesis we study the behavior of plasmonic bubbles in binary liquids ranging from bubble nucleation to interesting phenomena during its growth. We demonstrate the generality of our findings on a different substrate and show hints that the bubble can be employed in chemical reactions. Finally, we study the alignment-rheology relationship of bio-sourced rod-like particles under shear flow and briefly discuss potential future avenues of research.