Photoluminescence Plasmonic Enhancement of Single Quantum Dots Coupled to Gold Microplates

Abstract

Optical properties of quantum dots can be drastically changed by surface plasmons excited in neighboring metallic nanostructures. Here we investigated the photoluminescence enhancement dependence of single quantum dots on the separation distance with Au microplates by a single particle spectroscopy. The quantum dot–Au microplate hybrid structures provided a photoluminescence enhancement of up to ∼16-fold when the separation distance between the surface of Au microplate and the center of QD was 18 ± 1.9 nm. Accordingly, the lifetime of those quantum dots was shortened compared with the ones on glass plates directly. Theoretical simulation revealed that the variation of photoluminescence enhancement was closely dependent on the separation distance between the QD and the Au microplate, in good agreement with the experimental results.

Patterned Plasmonic Surfaces—Theory, Fabrication, and Applications in Biosensing

“…With the capability from near UV to IR emission, plasmonic enhanced, mass-producible, and self-illuminating nano-LED on-chip will open up many exciting opportunities in biomedical and industrial applications, including near-field microscopy of subcellular structures, direct material patterning, and compact “light-on-chip” biosensors and biochips. Plasmonic structures including plasmonic microplates [115], thin metal films [116], gold colloids [117], plasmonic wells [114], and plasmonic nanogratings [19] have been applied to enhance luminescence of QDs.…”

Two-Dimensional Au Nanocrystals: Shape/Size Controlling Synthesis, Morphologies, and Applications

“…Single gold nanoplates not only have the two‐photon‐induced photoluminescence (TPIPL) properties 1–2 orders of magnitudes larger than gold nanorods, but also are capable of enhancing the photoluminescence of quantum dots (QDs) by tuning the separation distance of QDs from the surface of Au nanocrystals . As shown in Figure , when varying the thicknesses of PMMA separating layers, these hybrid structures exhibited enhanced photoluminescence intensity up to 16‐fold as well as shortened lifetime induced by surface plasmon resonance of Au nanocrystals.…”

“…c,d) Dependence of photoluminescence intensity (c) and average lifetime (d) of the QDs coupled with Au nanocrystals on the separation distance. Modified with permission . Copyright 2014, American Chemical Society.…”

Tuning Plasmonic Enhancement of Single Nanocrystal Upconversion Luminescence by Varying Gold Nanorod Diameter

“…The collective oscillation of conduction electrons on metallic nanostructure surfaces when interacting with incident light, known as surface plasmon resonance, can produce strong field localization in subwavelength scale in the vicinity of the metallic nanostructures. This localization results in the near‐field enhancement by orders of magnitude and can be used to greatly promote photochemical reactions and amplify the luminescence from nearby optical emitters as extensively demonstrated in plasmonic‐enhanced fluorescence of semiconductor quantum dots and dye molecules . This strategy has also been extended to enhance the UCL of UCNPs with metallic nanoparticles, structured metallic surfaces, metal shell architectures, and metallic tip …”