Morphology-Dependent Energy Transfer Dynamics in Fluorene-Based Amphiphile Nanoparticles

• Published in: ACS nano 2012-06, Vol.6 (6), p.4777-4787
• Main Authors: Stevens, Amy L, Kaeser, Adrien, Schenning, Albertus P. H. J, Herz, Laura M
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Computer Simulation; Diffusion; Dynamical systems; Dynamics; Electron Transport; Energy Transfer; Excitation; Fluorenes - chemistry; Hydrophobic and Hydrophilic Interactions; Interaction parameters; Materials Testing; Models, Chemical; Models, Molecular; Nanoparticles; Nanoparticles - chemistry; Nanoparticles - ultrastructure; Nanostructure; Particle Size; Segregations
• ISSN: 1936-0851; 1936-086X
• DOI: 10.1021/nn204942r

Nanoparticles are interesting systems to study because of their large range of potential uses in biological imaging and sensing. We investigated molecular nanoparticles formed by fast injection of a small volume of molecularly dissolved fluorene-derivative amphiphilic molecules into a polar solvent, which resulted in solid spherical particles of ∼80 nm diameter with high stability. Energy transfer studies were carried out on two-component nanoparticles that contained mixtures of donor and acceptor amphiphiles of various fractions. We conducted time-resolved photoluminescence measurements on the two-component nanoparticles in order to determine whether the fundamental donor–acceptor interaction parameter (the Förster radius) depends on the acceptor concentration. The Förster radius was found to be large for very low incorporated acceptor fractions (