Experimental evidence of luminescence quenching at long coupling distances in europium (III) doped core-shell gold silica nanoparticles

Abstract

Localized surface plasmons can modify linear optical responses of materials located in their vicinity. In particular, rare earth ions luminescence can be enhanced by gold nanoparticles. Luminescence exaltation is a complex phenomenon that depends on multiple parameters, a critical one being the coupling distance between the emitting species and the plasmonic core. An original multilayer nanostructure designed to precisely control the distance between the gold cores and the luminescent ions, and to study its effect on the luminescent properties is presented here. Homogeneous silica shells with controlled thicknesses adjustable from 2 to 50 nm and rare earth ion doping rates up to 2×10 20 Eu/cm 3 of silica were deposited onto gold nanospheres. These original nanostructures are then incorporated into densified sol-gel silica composites with high-optical quality. Luminescence properties are studied for increasing gold-europium (III) distances. Strong luminescence quenching is evidenced for coupling distances up to 28 nm.

Modulated Luminescence of Lanthanide Materials by Local Surface Plasmon Resonance Effect

“…Strong quenching was experimentally evidenced when the coupling distance of Eu 3+ ions and plasmonic core was increased to 28 nm. After the systematic study, the researchers attributed the quenching at such long distance to a re-absorption of the emitted luminescence by the gold cores, not to the non-radiative decay rate [ 117 ].…”

“…( D ) Integrated PL intensities excited at 532 nm of sample-loaded (gray closed squares) and dissolved (black closed triangle) Au NPs. Reference [ 117 ].…”

Optimized Design of Pt‐Doped Bi2WO6 Nanoparticle Synthesis for Enhanced Photocatalytic Properties

“…This competition between screening and overall light absorption has also been reported in other applications. [28] …”

Enhanced distance-dependent fluorescence quenching using size tuneable core shell silica nanoparticles

“…quantum dots and gold nanoparticles, producing core-shell structures surrounded by silica layers that can be readily functionalised. 17,18 These structures have been used to study the interaction between a uorescent donor and an acceptor/ quencher, separated by nanometre-controlled distances, using the phenomena of the Förster (uorescence) resonance energy transfer (FRET) and nanometal surface energy transfer (NSET), 5,19 Fig. 2.…”