Abstract
Gold nanoclusters (Au-NCs) are powerful alternatives to commonly used dyes for use in fluorescent assays and in imaging. This is due to their high brightness and biocompatibility. Glutathione protected gold nanoclusters (Au-NCs@GSH) were used to investigate the effect of sodium and potassium ions (at 0.1 to 1 mM concentrations) on their fluorescence. It was found that addition of these alkali ions does not modify the emission wavelength of AuNCs@GSH, but fluorescence intensity undergoes a gradual increase (by ~130 %) until a plateau is reached. Fluorescence is particularly enhanced by KSCN. The effect is interpreted in terms of a decrease in the band gap of the AuNCs@GSH that depends on the nature of the anion. The results illustrate the role of anions and monovalent cations commonly used in buffers with respect to the tuning of the fluorescence of AuNCs@GSH. The findings should be taken into account when using AuNCs@GSH in assays based on fluorescence enhancement or quenching.
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