Size dependence of emission enhancement of Tris(8-hydroxyquinolinato) aluminum with plasmonic Al nanostructure

Abstract

It is essential to understand which mechanism of localized surface plasmon (LSP) emission enhancement is to be utilized when combining plasmonic metal nanostructures with an emissive material to produce an optoelectronic device. Herein, we report on the size dependence and time-resolved dynamics of photoluminescence (PL) enhancement using three sizes of aluminum nanotriangles (Al NTs) on emission by tris(8-hydroxyquinolinato)aluminum (Alq3) for elucidating its enhancement mechanism. Al nanostructures were fabricated using a nanosphere lithography technique. Two-dimensionally aligned polystyrene (PSt) beads with different diameters were used as mask templates for obtaining the Al NTs. The absorption peaks red-shifted with increasing Al NT size, and hence, were attributed to the LSP resonance. From PL of Alq3 with and without Al NTs, 2–3 fold PL enhancements were observed among the samples with different Al NTs sizes. The significant shortening of the PL lifetime was observed only in Alq3/Al NTs using Ps500, indicating the effective coupling of LSP of Al NTs and the emission, which is also evidenced from the overlapping the PL peak and the LSP absorption. In contrast, the PL emission enhancement due to LSP coupling with the absorption process of Alq3 was dominant in Alq3/Al NTs using Ps200, suggested from the similarity of the PL decay curve with that of bare Alq3, and the excitation energy matching with LSP resonance. From these observation, we can distinguish the LSP coupling process (absorption or emission) from the presence or absence of lifetime enhancement in the time-resolved PL measurements, offering a guideline for designing the optical devices incorporating the metal nanostructures.