Why gold nanoparticles are more precious than pretty gold: noble metal surface plasmon resonance and its enhancement of the radiative and nonradiative properties of nanocrystals of different shapes.

This tutorial review presents an introduction to the field of noble metal nanoparticles and their current applications. The origin of the surface plasmon resonance and synthesis procedures are described. A number of applications are presented that take advantage of the electromagnetic field enhancement of the radiative properties of noble metal nanoparticles resulting from the surface plasmon oscillations.