Beyond Superquenching: Hyper-efficient Energy Transfer from Conjugated Polymers to Gold Nanoparticles

Overview

Journal Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A

Specialty Science

Date 2003 May 17

PMID 12750470

Citations 53

Authors

Chunhai Fan

Shu Wang

Janice W Hong

Guillermo C Bazan

Kevin W Plaxco

Alan J Heeger

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Gold nanoparticles quench the fluorescence of cationic polyfluorene with Stern-Volmer constants (KSV) approaching 1011 M-1, several orders of magnitude larger than any previously reported conjugated polymer-quencher pair and 9-10 orders of magnitude larger than small molecule dye-quencher pairs. The dependence of KSV on ionic strength, charge and conjugation length of the polymer, and the dimensions (and thus optical properties) of the nanoparticles suggests that three factors account for this extraordinary efficiency: (i) amplification of the quenching via rapid internal energy or electron transfer, (ii) electrostatic interactions between the cationic polymer and anionic nanoparticles, and (iii) the ability of gold nanoparticles to quench via efficient energy transfer. As a result of this extraordinarily high KSV, quenching can be observed even at subpicomolar concentrations of nanoparticles, suggesting that the combination of conjugated polymers with these nanomaterials can potentially lead to improved sensitivity in optical biosensors.

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