Book excerpt: Firsthand insights on a unique class of optoelectronic materials, covering technologies and applications in catalysis, sensing, and spectroscopy Plasmonic Metal Nanostructures provides broad coverage of the field of plasmonic technologies, from fundamentals to real-world applications such as highly sensitive spectroscopy and surface analysis techniques, summarizing the recent progress in plasmonics and their applications, with a focus on comprehensive and authoritative discussions of fabrication and characterization of the materials and their technological uses. The text also addresses current trends and advances in materials for plasmonics, such as nanostructures with novel shapes, composite nanostructures, and thin films. Starting with an overview of optical properties in materials from macro- to micro- and nanoscale, the text then moves on to discuss the fundamentals and dielectric modifications and advanced characterization methods of plasmonic nanostructures. Next, the latest development of metal nanostructures, such as core-shell and porous nanorods, nanowires for conductive films, new star-like nanoplates, different open nanostructures, and metal-semiconductor composite nanostructures, are explained in detail. The final portion of the text discusses applications of plasmonics for semiconductor optoelectronic devices, catalysis, sensing, SERS (surface-enhanced Raman Spectroscopy), and energy. Written by a highly qualified academic, Plasmonic Metal Nanostructures covers sample topics such as: Drude model for free electron gas, dielectric function of the free electron gas, surface plasmon polaritons, plasmon at metal-vacuum interface, and surface plasmon effects Drude-Lorentz model of metal nanoparticles, dielectric properties of complex nanostructures, optical property analysis of isolated nanoparticles, and numerical simulation of optical properties One-dimensional Au nanostructures, core-shell nanostructures, alloy Au/Ag nanorods, porous nanorods, and yolk-shell nanostructures FCC nanoplates, Au nanoplates with novel and well-defined shapes, metal decorated semiconductors, and optical properties of Au NBP-embedded nanostructures Providing complete coverage of plasmonic nanostructures and their applications in catalysis, sensing, spectroscopy, thin-film, analysis, optoelectronics, and a variety of other fields. The book about Plasmonic Metal Nanostructures is an essential resource for materials scientists, physics researchers and photochemists, along with catalytic, biomedical, and physical chemists.