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Metal-Enhanced Fluorescence of Dye-Doped Silica Nano Particles

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Abstract

Recent advancements in metal-enhanced fluorescence (MEF) suggest that it can be a promising tool for detecting molecules at very low concentrations when a fluorophore is fixed near the surface of metal nanoparticles. We report a simple method for aggregating multiple gold nanoparticles (GNPs) on Rhodamine B (RhB)-doped silica nanoparticles (SiNPs) utilizing dithiocarbamate (DTC) chemistry to produce MEF in solution. Dye was covalently incorporated into the growing silica framework via co-condensation of a 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES) coupled RhB precursor using the Stöber method. Electron microscopy imaging revealed that these mainly non-spherical particles were relatively large (80 nm on average) and not well defined. Spherical core-shell particles were prepared by physisorbing a layer of RhB around a small spherical silica particle (13 nm) before condensing an outer layer of silica onto the surface. The core-shell method produced nanospheres (~30 nm) that were well defined and monodispersed. Both dye-doped SiNPs were functionalized with pendant amines that readily reacted with carbon disulfide (CS2) under basic conditions to produce DTC ligands that have exhibited a high affinity for gold surfaces. GNPs were produced via citrate reduction method and the resulting 13 nm gold nanospheres were then recoated with an ether-terminated alkanethiol to provide stability in ethanol. Fluorescent enhancement was observed when excess GNPs were added to DTC coated dye-doped SiNPs to form nanoparticle aggregates. Optimization of this system gave a fluorescence brightness enhancement of over 200 fold. Samples that gave fluorescence enhancement were characterized through Transmission Emission Micrograph (TEM) to reveal a pattern of multiple aggregation of GNPs on the dye-doped SiNPs.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the NSF for funding this work (DMR – 0805233). We thank Anuradha Singh for providing S-10-[2-(2 methoxyethoxy)ethoxy]decyl ethanethioate (CH3O(CH2CH2O)C10H20SOCH3) for GNP surface functionalization.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK, 73019-5251, USA

    Kalani B. Gunawardana, Nathaniel S. Green & Ronald L. Halterman

  2. Homer L. Dodge Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK, 73019-5251, USA

    Lloyd A. Bumm

Authors
  1. Kalani B. Gunawardana
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  2. Nathaniel S. Green
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  3. Lloyd A. Bumm
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  4. Ronald L. Halterman
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Correspondence to Kalani B. Gunawardana.

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Gunawardana, K.B., Green, N.S., Bumm, L.A. et al. Metal-Enhanced Fluorescence of Dye-Doped Silica Nano Particles. J Fluoresc 25, 311–317 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10895-015-1510-8

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