Metal-Enhanced Fluorescence from Quantum Dot-Coupled Gold Nanoparticles

• Published in: Journal of physical chemistry. C 2019-01, Vol.123 (2), p.1389-1397
• Main Authors: Tobias, Andrew K, Jones, Marcus
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 1932-7447; 1932-7455
• DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcc.8b09108

Hybrid nanoscale systems with enhanced optical absorption or emission yields can be created by coupling fluorophores, such as quantum dots (QDs), to metal nanoparticles (NPs) with resonant localized plasmon modes. In these systems, metal NPs act like optical antennae, enabling far-field radiation to couple more effectively into, or out of, the coupled particles. These effects are, however, strongly distance-dependent and they are overwhelmed by energy loss pathways at very small interparticle separations. Here, we describe a study to determine the conditions at which emission gains are maximized in colloidal QD–NP systems comprising amide-linked core/shell Au/Cd­(Zn)S NPs and CdSe/CdS QDs. We characterize the assembled nanostructures and demonstrate their ability to enhance QD emission as a function of NP shell thickness. The resulting assembled nanosystems have in-built plasmon-enhanced optical emission yields, while retaining the processing and fabrication advantages of solution-phase colloidal particles. Similar NP–QD systems could find application in light harvesting and light-emitting materials for solar cells and light-emitting diodes.