Alloy nanoparticles for metal-enhanced luminescence

摘要

Metal enhanced luminescence using alloy nanoparticles offers additional degrees of freedom for tuning their optical properties by altering atomic composition and atomic arrangement when compared to pure metal nanoparticles such as gold and silver. Surface plasmon resonance wavelengths of silver-copper nanoparticles were tuned in the visible and near infrared region by changing annealing temperature. Strong emission enhancement of luminophores at the vicinity of the Ag—Cu nanoparticles was shown when the SPR spectrum was tuned to produce maximum spectral overlap. As the SPR spectrum can be easily tailored, this platform can be effectively used to enhance luminescence of different luminophores.

主权项

1. A method of enhancing the fluorescence of luminophores comprising:
providing bimetallic nanoparticles wherein the nanoparticles form a platform; determining surface plasmon resonance (SPR) spectrum of the nanoparticle platform; modifying the atomic composition of the bimetallic nanoparticles to change peak position and width of the SPR spectrum; modifying the atomic arrangement of the bimetallic nanoparticles to change peak position and width of the SPR spectrum; providing luminophores wherein the luminophores are positioned at a predetermined distance from the nanoparticles; determining emission spectrum of the luminophores; determining absorption spectrum of the luminophores; and calculating an overall quantum efficiency factor for the luminophores using emission enhancement factors and excitation rate enhancement factors to determine a specific level of enhancement for the luminophores; wherein the atomic composition and the atomic arrangement of the nanoparticles are modified to provide spectral overlap between the SPR spectrum of the nanoparticle platform and the emission and the absorption spectra of the luminophores; whereby the maximum spectral overlap results in enhanced luminescence.