White Light Generation through l-Ascorbic Acid-Templated Thermoresponsive Copper Nanoclusters

Abstract

Owing to their lower toxicity and tuneable optical properties, luminescent copper nanoclusters (CuNCs) have emerged as a new generation of materials with multidiverse applications in cellular imaging, sensing, and optoelectronics. However, the preparation of highly stable CuNCs using a small ligand as a template still serves as a bottleneck in the development of nanoclusters. Herein, we report ascorbic acid (AA)-templated blue-emitting CuNCs that display excellent thermoresponsive properties within a temperature range of 25−65 °C. Interestingly, our as-prepared CuNCs can generate white light emission (WLE) when mixed with bovine serum albumin (BSA)templated red-emitting silver nanoclusters (AgNCs) under optimized conditions. The WLE so generated was characterized by the Commission Internationale d'Eclairage (CIE) coordinates of (0.33, 0.30), a color rendering index (CRI) of 80, and a correlated color temperature (CCT) of 5624 K, parameters that are very close to those of pure white light. The cell viability data and confocal laser scanning microscopy images of HeLa cells obtained using these CuNCs substantiate their nontoxic and biocompatible nature.

Dual Stimuli-Responsive BSA-Protected Silver Nanocluster-Driven “FRET On–Off” within the Niosomal Membrane: An Amalgamation of Restoration of Aggregation-Induced Quenched Fluorescence and Energy Transfer

“…The BSA-protected, red-emitting ultrasmall AgNCs (BSA@AgNCs) were synthesized following a previously reported protocol . Briefly, 1.6 mL of 75 mM AgNO 3 solution was mixed with 0.8 mL of 74 mg/mL BSA solution under continuous stirring in a glass vial, followed by dropwise addition of 0.08 mL of 1 M NaOH solution.…”

“…The BSA-protected, redemitting ultrasmall AgNCs (BSA@AgNCs) were synthesized following a previously reported protocol. 42 Briefly, 1.6 mL of 75 mM AgNO 3 solution was mixed with 0.8 mL of 74 mg/mL BSA solution under continuous stirring in a glass vial, followed by dropwise addition of 0.08 mL of 1 M NaOH solution. The stirring was continued further for half an hour before the addition of 0.06 mL of 112 mM NaBH 4 to the reaction mixture and left aside for 1 h with continuous stirring.…”

Assembly-Induced Emission in Mercaptosuccinic Acid-Templated Silver Nanoclusters: Metal Ion Selectivity and pH Sensitivity

“…It was found that at lower temperatures, the PL intensity of Zn–AgNCs increases, whereas the PL intensity decreases with the increase in temperature. Again, the enhancement of the intensity at a lower temperature is attributed to the formation of the rigid, aggregated network, and the reduction of PL intensity is possibly due to the segregation of the NC assembly at higher temperatures. − In order to comprehend the possibility of electron–phonon coupling at higher temperatures, the full width at half maximum (FWHM in electron volts) has been plotted as a function of temperature (Figure S14b). Generally, the presence of electron–phonon interaction in NCs and quantum dot systems results in a substantial broadening of the emission bandwidth as the temperature of the solution increases .…”

Sensitive Detection of BRCA1 Gene Based on Target Proximity Induced Quenching of the Fluorescence of Copper Nanoclusters

“…It is noted from Figure 3B that the fluorescence intensity of CuNCs decreased by about 4.7% after 30 min, which was consistent with the result reported by Mukherjee and co-workers. 36 Therefore, the shelf life of CuNCs was 30 min. The morphology of CuNCs was characterized by HRTEM.…”