Branched DNA-based Synthesis of Fluorescent Silver Nanocluster

Abstract

While single strand DNAs have been widely used for the scaffold of brightly fluorescent silver nanoclusters (Ag NCs), double strand DNAs have not been as successful. Herein, we report a novel synthetic approach for bright Ag NCs using branched double strand DNAs as the scaffolds for synthesis. X-shaped DNA (X-DNA) and Y-shaped DNA (Y-DNA) effectively stabilized Ag NCs, and both X-DNA and Y-DNA resulted in brightly fluorescent Ag NCs. The concentration and molar ratio of silver and DNA were found important for the fluorescence efficiency. The brightest Ag NC with the photoluminescence quantum efficiency of 19.8% was obtained for the reaction condition of 10 µM X-DNA, 70 µM silver, and the reaction time of 48 h. The fluorescence lifetime was about 2 ns for the Ag NCs and was also slightly dependent on the synthetic condition. Addition of Cu ions at the Ag NC preparations resulted in the quenching of Ag NC fluorescence, which was different to the brightening cases of single strand DNA stabilized Ag NCs.