Gold Nanoparticle Conjugated Organic Dye Nanocomposite Based Photostimulated Luminescent Enhancement and Its Application in Nanomedicine

Abstract

We have experimentally demonstrated that the emission of visible light from the polymer matrix doped with luminescent dye and gold nanoparticles (GNPs) can be enhanced with the use of surface plasmon coupling. GNPs can enhance the luminescence intensity of nearby luminescent dye because of the interactions between the dipole moments of the dye and the surface plasmon field of the GNPs. The electric charge on the GNPs and the distance between GNPs and luminescent dye molecules have a significant effect on the luminescence intensity, and this enhancement depends strongly upon the excitation wavelength of the pumping laser source. This ability of controlling luminescence can be beneficially used in developing contrast agents for highly sensitive and specific optical sensing and imaging. It opens new possibilities for plasmonic applications in nanobiology and nanomedicine. In particular, for example, luminescent dye-conjugated GNPs and gold nanorods (GNRs), can be used to target specific cancer cells, which is very important for the diagnosis and therapy of cancer.