Enhanced two-photon emission in coupled metal nanoparticles induced by conjugated polymers

Interactions between noble metal (Ag and Au) nanoparticles and conjugated polymers as well as their one- and two-photon emission have been investigated. Ag and Au nanoparticles exhibited extraordinary quenching effects on the fluorescence of cationic poly(fluorinephenylene). The quenching efficiency by 37-nm Ag nanoparticles is ∼19 times more efficient than that by 13-nm Au nanoparticles, and 9-10 orders of magnitude more efficient than typical small molecule dye-quencher pairs. On the other hand, the cationic conjugated polymers induce the aggregate formation and plasmonic coupling of the metal nanoparticles, as evidenced by transmission electron microscopy images and appearance of a new longitudinal plasmon band in the near-infrared region. The two-photon emissions of Ag and Au nanoparticles were found to be significantly enhanced upon addition of conjugated polymers, by a factor of 51-times and 9-times compared to the isolated nanoparticles for Ag and Au, respectively. These studies could be further extended to the applications of two-photon imaging and sensing of the analytes that can induce formation of metal nanoparticle aggregates, which have many advantages over the conventional one-photon counterparts.