Rice scientists show how coated nanoantennas retain energy to potentially catalyze chemical reactions Bigger is not always better, but here’s something that starts small and gets better as it gets bigger. Just light it up and see. A team led by Rice University chemists Christy Landes and Stephan Link, both associated with the Smalley-Curl Institute, have made hybrid particles that combine the unbeatable light-harvesting properties of plasmonic nanoparticles with the flexibility of catalytic polymer coatings. Their work could help power long-pursued plasmonic applications in electronics, imaging, sensing and medicine. Plasmons are the detectable ripples of energy created on the surface of some metals when excited by light or other input. Nanoantennas are microscopic bits of these metals, like gold, silver and aluminum. Because they are sensitive to specific inputs depending on their size, shape and type, they are tunable and therefore useful as sensors, bioimaging agents and even as therapeutics.