Fluorescence Studies of the Interplay between Metal-Enhanced Fluorescence and Graphene-Induced Quenching.

Kamil Wiwatowski,Paweł Podlas,Magdalena Twardowska,Sebastian Maćkowski

doi:10.3390/ma11101916

Kamil Wiwatowski, Paweł Podlas + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/ma11101916

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Journal: Materials	Publication Date: Oct 9, 2018
Citations: 3	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: Institute of Physics, Nicolaus Copernicus University

Abstract

Fluorescence microscopy and spectroscopy were applied for studying the optical properties of a hybrid nanostructure, in which we combine plasmon-induced metal enhanced fluorescence with energy transfer to epitaxial graphene. Covering the layer of silver islands with a monolayer graphene, while turning on the efficient energy transfer from emitters, only moderately affects the enhancement of fluorescence attributed to the plasmon resonance in metallic nanostructures—as evidenced by the analysis of fluorescence decays. The results show that it is feasible to combine the properties of graphene with metal-enhanced fluorescence. The importance of the layer thickness of the emitters is also pointed out.

Highlights

At the nanoscale, bringing two or more nanostructures close together may frequently lead to interactions between them, which in turn induce modifications in the properties of such fabricated hybrid structures [1]
Among the interactions that emerge at the nanoscale, there are two that arguably are the most prominent: Metal-enhanced fluorescence (MEF) [2] and fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) [3]
We study the interplay between MEF and FRET effects in a hybrid nanostructure composed of Silver Island Film (SIF) covered with graphene, on top of which a layer of emitters was deposited

Summary

Introduction

At the nanoscale, bringing two or more nanostructures close together may frequently lead to interactions between them, which in turn induce modifications in the properties of such fabricated hybrid structures [1]. It is possible to improve the desired properties or even add new functionalities, minimizing at the same time any effects considered parasitic for a particular application. The MEF effect is a process, in which the fluorescence intensity of an emitter is increased via interactions with plasmonic excitations in metallic nanoparticles placed in its vicinity [2,4,5]. A source of this enhancement is an increase of the radiative emission rate of the emitter, the emission intensity may increase as a result of plasmonically improved absorption. The strength of MEF depends on the emitter-nanoparticle distance, as well as their spectral matching, optimization of these parameters is important to achieve strong fluorescence enhancement [6,7,8]

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