Probing the quenching of CdSe/ZnS qdots by Au, Au/Ag, and Au/Pd nanoparticles

Abstract

The resonance energy transfer between CdSe/ZnS quantum dots (qdots) and three metallic nanoparticles (NPs) with different surface plasmon resonance (SPR) characteristics were studied. Gold, gold/silver and gold/palladium NPs were used as energy acceptors for qdots with donor emission at 570 nm. Due to the different spectral overlaps between the SPR signatures and qdot emission, varied energy transfer characteristics were observed. The energy transfer was quantified via the Stern–Volmer relationship, since in this study the energy transfer was collision based. The Au/Ag and Au/Pd NPs in particular showed high KSV values, while the Au NPs showed much lower energy transfer efficiency. Since the NPs used in this study were relatively large (d ∼ 15–20 nm), the experimental system was also influenced by the NP extinction coefficients of ≈108 M−1 cm−1. To address this potential inner filter effect, the quenching profiles were normalized by SPR transmittance. The results are important to the field, as many of these classes of nanomaterials are being employed in energy transfer based studies, as well as in colorimetric sensing.