Au, Ag, and Au/Ag colloidal nanoparticles coated with the J-aggregate of an anionic cyanine dye, 3,3′disulfopropyl-5,5′-dichlorothiacyanine sodium salt (TC), have been prepared for the first time. The absorption spectrum of TC-coated Au colloidal nanoparticles is not a simple sum of the contributions of colloidal gold and TC but is characterized by an evident absorption dip at the position corresponding to the J-band of TC. These spectral features are reproduced by the simulation based on the Maxwell-Garnett-type treatment of Gao et al. The alternate adsorption technique allowed us to deposit dye-coated Au/Ag composite nanoparticles at the surface of a cationic polymer, poly(diallyldimethylammonium chroride).

The layer-by-layer alternate assemblies incorporating two kinds of cyanine dyes have been fabricated by alternately adsorbing a cationic polyelectrolyte and anionic cyanine dyes on the quartz plate. A thiacyanine dye (dye I) was employed as the donor and two kinds of thiacarbocyanine dye having a meso-alkyl groups m-ethyl (dye II), m-methyl (dye III)sas the acceptor. The mole fraction of the acceptor in the mixed J-aggregate, χ, was varied from 0 to 1. It is confirmed that these dye combinations form the mixed J-aggregate in the alternate assemblies. From steady-state fluorescence spectra of the molecular assemblies, excitation energy transfer from the donor J-aggregate to the acceptor J-aggregate is observed, whose kinetics obeys the Stern-Volmer relationship. The experimentally determined rate constant of energy transfer, k ET , is fairly large, indicating efficient energy transfer due to exciton migration through the donor J-aggregate. The relative fluorescence quantum yield and the fluorescence lifetime of the acceptor aggregate decrease with increasing χ, implying the considerable self-quenching of acceptor fluorescence. The relative change of the coherent size of the dye II aggregate has been estimated from the J-band line width and the radiative decay rate constant. It is found that the coherent size of the dye II aggregate is increased by a factor of 4-5 with increasing χ from 0.008 to 1.

The composite gold nanorods (Au NRs) having a double-shell structure composed of Au NR (core), spacer layer (inner shell), and J-aggregate (JA) layer (outer shell) have been synthesized to examine the spectroscopic properties of the hybrid system in which the localized surface plasmon is coupled with the molecular exciton of JA. The spacer layer consisting of N,N,N-trimethyl(11-mercaptoundecyl)ammonium chloride plays a significant role in the formation of JA shell for several kinds of cyanine dyes. The absorption spectra of composite NRs are characterized by a distinct dip near the J-band when the plasmon energy of Au core is close to the exciton energy of JA shell, whereas a normal J-band peak appears when two energies are widely different from each other. The gradual change from the dip type to peak type absorption was observed when the plasmon energy was modulated by varying the aspect ratio of Au NR. Furthermore, composite NRs with thicker spacer layers have been fabricated by inserting the multilayer shell of polyelectrolytes between TMA and JA layers. They exhibited an alteration of the spectral line shape from the dip type to peak type with increase in the thickness of spacer layer. These observations have been interpreted in terms of the strength of the exciton-plasmon coupling, which is sensitive to the configuration of composite NRs as well as the relative difference between plasmon and exciton energies.

Composite nanoparticles (NPs) having a double-shell structure, Au core, spacer layer (inner shell), and J-aggregate (JA) layer (outer shell) (Au/spacer/JA) have been synthesized. The spacer layer composed of N,N,N-trimethyl(11-mercaptoundecyl)ammonium chloride played an important role in promoting the J-aggregation of anionic cyanine dyes on the surface, as evidenced by the successful formation of the JA layers with four kinds of anionic cyanine dyes. It was found that the presence of a spacer layer causes a significant change in the line shape of the absorption spectrum, particularly near the J-band; there is the appearance of a peak type absorption for the composite NPs with the double-shell structure, while there is a dip type absorption for the ones without the spacer layer. The change from the peak type absorption to the dip type absorption in the Au/spacer/JA NPs occurs when the size of the Au core is varied from 5 to 15 nm. These observations would indicate that the strength of exciton-plasmon coupling between the Au core and the JA layer is enhanced with the increase in the core size or the decrease in the separation between the Au core and the JA shell. The photoluminescence arising from the JA can be detected for the composite NPs with the double-shell structure, showing that the quenching by the Au core is effectively suppressed by the spacer layer.