On the fluorescence enhancement mechanism of Er^(3+) in germanate glass containing silver particles

The spectral properties of trivalent erbium ions（Er^3＋） are systematically studied in a melt-quenched germanate glass（60 GeO2-20PbO-10BaO-10K2O-0.1Ag2O） containing silver（Ag） particles.Thermal treatment of the material leads to the precipitation of Ag particles as observed by transmission electron microscopy and confirmed by absorption spectrum for the obvious surface plasmon resonance peak of Ag particles.The fluorescence from Er^3＋ in the 10-min-annealed sample with Ag particles is found to be 4.2 times enhanced compared with the unannealed sample excited by 488-nm Ar＋ laser.A comparison is made between a spectral study performed on the unannealed Er^3＋-doped sample and the one annealed for 20 min.The data of absorption cross section and Judd-Ofelt intensity parameters show the agreement between the two samples no matter whether there are Ag particles,indicating that the introduction of Ag particles by post-heat treatment has no effect on the crystal field environment of Er^3＋ ions.The fluorescence enhancement is attributed to the surface plasmon oscillations of Ag particles in germanate glass.

Coherent and tunable radiation with power enhancement from surface plasmon polaritons

Surface plasmon polaritons excited by an electron beam can be transformed into coherent and tunable light radiation waves with power enhancement in the simple structure of a metal film with a dielectric medium loading. In this paper, the process of the radiation transformation of this radiation, and the dependencies of the radiation characteristics on the parameters of the structure and the electron beam are studied in detail. The radiation power enhancement is greatly influenced by the beam energy and the film thickness in the infrared to ultraviolet frequency region. Up to 122 times radiation power enhancement and 6.5% radiation frequency tuning band can be obtained by optimizing the beam energy and the parameters of the film.

Interplay between out-of-plane magnetic plasmon and lattice resonance for modified resonance lineshape and near-field enhancement in double nanoparticles array

Two-dimensional double nanoparticle （DNP） arrays are demonstrated theoretically, supporting the interaction between out-of-plane magnetic plasmons and in-plane lattice resonances, which can be achieved by tuning the nanoparticle height or the array period due to the height-dependent magnetic resonance and the periodicity-dependent lattice resonance. The interplay between the two plasmon modes can lead to a remarkable change in resonance lineshape and an improvement on magnetic field enhancement. Simultaneous electric field and magnetic field enhancement can be obtained in the gap region between neighboring particles at two resonance frequencies as the interplay occurs, which presents “open” cavities as electromagnetic field hot spots for potential applications on detection and sensing. The results not only offer an attractive way to tune the optical responses of plasmonic nanostructure, but also provide further insight into the plasmon interactions in periodic nanostructure or metamaterials comprising multiple elements.

Tunable multiple plasmon resonances and local field enhancement of nanocrescent/nanoring structure

According to the plasmon hybridization theory, the plasmon resonance characteristics of the gold nanocrescent/nanoring(NCNR) structure are systematically investigated by the finite element method. It is found that the extinction spectra of NCNR structure exhibit multiple plasmon resonance peaks, which could be attributed to the result of the plasmon couplings between the multipolar plasmon modes of nanocrescent and the dipolar, quadrupolar, hexapolar, octupolar,decapolar plasmon modes of nanoring. By changing the geometric parameters, the intense and separate multiple plasmon resonance peaks are obtained and can be tuned in a wide wavelength range. It is further found that the plasmon coupling induces giant multipole electric field enhancements around the tips of the nanocrescent. The tunable and intense multiple plasmon resonances of NCNR structure may provide effective applications in multiplex biological sensing.

Self-Assembled Al Nanostructure/ZnO Quantum Dot Heterostructures for High Responsivity and Fast UV Photodetector

Light confinement induced by spontaneous near-surface resonance is inherently determined by the location and geometry of metallic nanostructures(NSs),offering a facile and effective approach to break through the limitation of the light-mater interaction within the photoactive layers.Here,we demonstrate high-performance Al NS/ZnO quantum dots(Al/ZnO) heterostructure UV photodetectors with controllable morphologies of the self-assembled Al NSs.The Al/ZnO heterostructures exhibit a superior light utilization than the ZnO/Al heterostructures,and a strong morphological dependence of the Al NSs on the optical properties of the heterostructures.The inter-diffusion of Al atoms into ZnO matrixes is of a great benefit for the carrier transportation.Consequently,the optimal photocurrent of the Al/ZnO heterostructure photodetectors is significantly increased by 275 times to ~1.065 mA compared to that of the pristine ZnO device,and an outstanding photoresponsivity of 11.98 A W-1 is correspondingly achieved under 6.9 MW cm-2 UV light illumination at 10 V bias.In addition,a relatively fast response is similarly witnessed with the Al/ZnO devices,paving a path to fabricate the high-performance UV photodetectors for applications.

Gold Nanostars-AIE Theranostic Nanodots with Enhanced Fluorescence and Photosensitization Towards Effective Image-Guided Photodynamic Therapy

Dual-functional aggregation-induced photosensitizers(AIE-PSs)with singlet oxygen generation(SOG)ability and bright fluorescence in aggregated state have received much attention in image-guided photodynamic therapy(PDT).However,designing an AIE-PS with both high SOG and intense fluorescence via molecular design is still challenging.In this work,we report a new nanohybrid consisting of gold nanostar(AuNS)and AIE-PS dots with enhanced fluorescence and photosensitization for theranostic applications.The spectral overlap between the extinction of AuNS and fluorescence emission of AIE-PS dots(665 nm)is carefully selected using five different AuNSs with distinct localized surface plasmon(LSPR)peaks.Results show that all the AuNS s can enhance the 1 O2 production of AIE-PS dots,among which the AuNS with LSPR peak at 585 nm exhibited the highest 1 O2 enhancement factor of15-fold with increased fluorescence brightness.To the best of our knowledge,this is the highest enhancement factor reported for the metalenhanced singlet oxygen generation systems.The Au585@AIE-PS nanodots were applied for simultaneous fluorescence imaging and photodynamic ablation of HeLa cancer cells with strongly enhanced PDT efficiency in vitro.This study provides a better understanding of the metal-enhanced AIE-PS nanohybrid systems,opening up new avenue towards advanced image-guided PDT with greatly improved efficacy.

Optical properties of rubrene thin film prepared by thermal evaporation

Rubrene thin films are deposited on quartz substrates and silver nanoparticles （Ag NPs） films by the thermal evapo- ration technique. The optical properties of rubrene thin film are investigated in a spectral range of 190 nm-1600 nm. The analysis of the absorption coefficient （a） reveals direct allowed transition with a corresponding energy of 2.24 eV. The photoluminescence （PL） peak of the mbrene thin film is observed to be at 563 nm （2.21 eV）. With the use ofAg NPs which are fabricated by radio-frequency （RF） rnagnetron sputtering on the quartz, the PL intensity is 8.5 times that of as-deposited rubrene thin film. It is attributed to the fact that the surface plasmon enhances the photoluminescence.

Improved optical enhancement using double-width plasmonic gratings with nanogaps

Plasmonic grating structures have been shown effective at increasing near-field optical enhancement. A doublewidth plasmonic grating design is introduced, where each period has two alternating metal widths separated by a nanogap. With this new design, analysis has shown that plasmonic resonances couple between each metal section,resulting in even greater optical enhancement compared with single-width gratings. The geometry that gives the greatest optical enhancement has been determined with a computational model. This work demonstrates that the increased enhancement is due to hybridized modes that couple between the two grating segments.

Amplified Detection of Iron Ion Based on Plasmon Enhanced Fluorescence and Subsequently Fluorescence Quenching

A facile and rapid approach for detecting low concentration of iron ion(Fe3+) with improved sensitivity was developed on the basis of plasmon enhanced fluorescence and subsequently amplified fluorescence quenching.Au1Ag4@Si O2 nanoparticles were synthesized and dispersed into fluorescein isothiocyanate(FITC) solution. The fluorescence of the FITC solution was improved due to plasmon enhanced fluorescence. However, efficient fluorescence quenching of the FITC/Au1Ag4@Si O2 solution was subsequently achieved when Fe3+, with a concentration ranging from17 n M to 3.4 l M, was added into the FITC/Au1Ag4@Si O2 solution, whereas almost no fluorescence quenching was observed for pure FITC solution under the same condition. FITC/Au1Ag4@Si O2 solution shows a better sensitivity for detecting low concentration of Fe3+compared to pure FITC solution. The quantized limit of detection toward Fe3+was improved from 4.6 l M for pure FITC solution to 20 n M for FITC/Au1Ag4@Si O2 solution.

Thermal-annealing-regulated plasmonic enhanced fluorescence platform enables accurate detection of antigen/antibody against infectious diseases

Plasmonic enhanced fluorescence(PEF)technology is a powerful strategy to improve the sensitivity of immunofluorescence microarrays(IFMA),however,current approaches to constructing PEF platforms are either expensive/time-consuming or reliant on specialized instruments.Here,we develop a completely alternative approach relying on a two-step protocol that includes the self-assembly of gold nanoparticles(GNPs)at the water–oil interface and subsequent annealing-assisted regulation of gold nanogap.Our optimized thermal-annealing GNPs(TA-GNP)platform generates adequate hot spots,and thus produces high-density electromagnetic coupling,eventually enabling 240-fold fluorescence enhancement of probed dyes in the near-infrared region.For clinical detection of human samples,TA-GNP provides super-high sensitivity and low detection limits for both hepatitis B surface antigen and SARS-CoV-2 binding antibody,coupled with a much-improved detection dynamic range up to six orders of magnitude.With fast detection,high sensitivity,and low detection limit,TA-GNP could not only substantially improve the outcomes of IFMA-based precision medicine but also find applications in fields of proteomic research and clinical pathology.

Coupled quantum molecular cavity optomechanics with surface plasmon enhancement

Cavity optomechanics is applied to study the coupling behavior of interacting molecules in surface plasmon systems driven by two-color laser beams. Different from the traditional force–distance measurement, due to a resonant frequency shift or a peak splitting on the probe spectrum, we have proposed a convenient method to measure the van der Waals force strength and interaction energy via nonlinear spectroscopy. The minimum force value can reach approximately 10^(-15) N, which is 3 to 4 orders of magnitude smaller than the widely applied atomic force microscope(AFM). It is also shown that two adjacent molecules with similar chemical structures and nearly equal vibrational frequencies can be easily distinguished by the splitting of the transparency peak. Based on this coupled optomechanical system, we also conceptually design a tunable optical switch by van der Waals interaction. Our results will provide new approaches for understanding the complex and dynamic interactions inmolecule–plasmon systems.

Ultrasensitive and accurate diagnosis of urothelial cancer by plasmonic AuNRs-enhanced fluorescence of near-infrared Ag_(2)S quantum dots

Urothelial carcinoma(UC)is a common malignant tumor in the urinary system with high recurrence rate and low survival rate 5 years after surgery.At present,imaging examination and other diagnostic methods have some shortcomings such as invasiveness and non-specificity.Therefore,it is urgent to develop a simple,rapid,noninvasive,highly sensitive and highly specific strategy to diagnose UC.Herein,a high-performance fluorescence sensor was constructed by the plasmonic gold nanorods(AuNRs)-enhanced near-infrared(NIR)fluorescence of silver sulfide quantum dots(Ag_(2)S QDs).The designed sensor can be used for the fast and accurate detection of small molecule single-transmembrane protein(FXYD3),which is overexpressed in 90%of ureteral cancers and 84%of high-grade bladder cancers.Due to its high specificity,the NIR fluorescence sensor achieves the detection of FXYD3 in the range of 0.25-150 ng·ml^(-1)with a detection limit of 0.2 ng·ml^(-1).Importantly,it also can be used for accurate diagnosis of FXYD3 in the urine of patients with relevant cancers,and the results are consistent with clinical cystoscopy and pathological analysis.The proposed fluorescence sensor provides a simple,ultrasensitive,reliable method for UC screening,tumor-grade classification and postoperative monitoring and will have great potential for clinical applications.

Enhancement of solar cells parameters by periodic nanocylinders

Optical absorption in thin-film solar cells can be improved by using surface plasmons for guiding and confining the light on the nanoscale.We report theoretical and simulation studies of a-Si thin-film solar cells with silver nanocylinders on the surface.We found that surface plasmons increased the cells＇ spectral response over almost the entire studied solar spectrum.In the ultraviolet range and at wavelengths close to the Si band gap we observed a significant enhancement of the absorption for both thin-film and wafer-based structures.We also performed optimization studies of particle size,inter-particle distance,and dielectric environment,for obtaining maximal absorption within the substrate.A blue-shift of the resonance wavelength with increasing inter-particle distance was observed in the visible range.Cell performance improved at optimal spacing,which strongly depended on the nanoparticle size.Increasing the nanocylinder size was accompanied by the widening of the plasmon resonance band and a red-shift of the plasmon resonance peaks.A weak red-shift and plasmon peak enhancement were observed in the reflectance curve with increasing refractive index of the dielectric spacer.

High enhancement factor of Au nano triangular prism structure for surface enhanced coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering

Coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering spectroscopy（CARS） is a well-known detecting tool in biosensing and nonlinear spectroscopy. It can provide a non-invasive alternative without the need for exogenous labels,while the enhancement factor for surface plasmon resonances（SPR） are extensively used to increase the local field close to the oscillators and which can obtain high enhancement. In this work, we investigate the enhancement factor of our structure for surface-enhanced coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering. The absorption spectrum of the structure has been studied, a wide range of absorption has been realized. The enhancement can be as high as 10^（16） over standard CARS. Our design is very useful for improving the enhancement factor of surface-enhanced coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering.

Enabling Reaction Selectivity of Platinum Catalysts by Photoinduced Electronic Effects

Reaction selectivity is crucial to producing target molecules of importance with minimum waste.This work reports an efficient and green strategy to improve reaction selectivity in visible-light-mediated chemical transformations by employing Pt/SiOx photocatalysts,which is ascribed to light-induced surface electronic modification in the small Pt nanocrystals.This strategy has been successfully applied to synthesize commercially valuable but thermodynamically unfavorable arylhydroxylamines with high selectivity via partial hydrogenation of the respective nitroarenes.Surface modification of the small Pt nanocrystals with triethanolamine(TEA)molecules further optimizes the Pt electronic structure to favor the reaction selectivity.The light-induced surface electronic structure alterations and the TEA chemical modification act synergistically to prevent the readsorption of desorbed electron-rich arylhydroxylamines.This prevents the complete hydrogenation of arylhydroxylamines to respective anilines,leading to high arylhydroxylamine selectivity of 81−91%.In addition,photoillumination of Pt nanocrystals always accelerates the reaction kinetics significantly regardless of their surface modification.

Fabrication of cost-effective, highly reproducible large area arrays of nanotriangular pillars for surface enhanced Raman scattering substrates

Development of cost-effective, highly reproducible non-conventional fabrication techniques for anisotropic metal nanostructures is essential to realizing potential applications of plasmonic devices, photonic devices, and surface enhanced Raman scattering （SERS） phenomenon based sensors. This report highlights the fabrication of nanotriangle arrays via nanoimprinting to overcome difficulties in creating large-area SERS active substrates with uniform, reproducible Raman signals. Electron beam lithography of anisotropic nanostructures, formation of arrays of nanotriangles in silicon and the transfer of triangular shapes to polymethylmethacrylate （PMMA） sheets via nanoimprinting have not been reported elsewhere. The reuse of silicon masters offers potential for production of low cost SERS substrates. The SERS activity and reproducibility of nanotriangles are illustrated and a consistent average enhancement factor of up to -2.9 × 1011, which is the highest value reported for a patterned SERS substrate, is achieved.