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Light-induced mechanical response of materials has been extensively investigated and widely utilized to convert light energy into mechanical energy directly. The metallic nanomaterials have excellent photothermal properties and show enormous potential in micromechanical actuators, etc. However, the photo-thermo-mechanical properties of individual metallic nanostructures have yet to be well investigated. Here, we experimentally demonstrate a way to realize light-induced reversible expansion of individual gold nanoplates on optical microfibers. The light-induced thermal expansion coefficient is obtained as 21.4 ± 4.6 ∼ 31.5 ± 4.2 μ·K-1 when the light-induced heating temperature of the gold nanoplates is 240 ∼ 490 °C. The photo-thermo-mechanical response time of the gold nanoplates is about 0.3 ± 0.1 s. This insight into the photo-thermo-mechanical properties of the gold nanoplates could deepen the understanding of the light-induced reversible expansion behavior in nanoscale and pave the way for applications based on this piezoelectric-like response, such as light-driven metallic micromotors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nanobreaking of nanowires has shown its necessity for manufacturing integrated nanodevices as nanojoining does. In this letter, we develop a method for breaking gold pentagonal nanowires by taking advantage of the photothermal effect with a 532 nm continuous-wave (CW) laser. The critical power required for nanobreaking is much lower for perpendicular polarization than that for parallel polarization. By controlling the polarization and the power of the irradiation light for nanobreaking, the nanowires can be cut into segments with gap widths ranging from dozens of nanometers to several micrometers. This CW light-induced single point nanobreaking of metallic nanowires provides a highly useful and promising method in constructing nanosystems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]