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Updated: Jun 26, 2025

Determination of the Excitation and Coupling Rates Between Light Emitters and Surface Plasmon Polaritons
Published on: July 21, 2018
Temperature-sensitive metal-enhanced fluorescence and plasmon resonance energy transfer
Yu Zhang1,2, Liming Wang1,2, Li Ge2
1Institutes of Physical Science and Information Technology, Anhui University, Hefei 230039, P. R. China. heshengnan@ahu.edu.cn.
Abstract:
Experimental decoupling of the effects of plasmon resonance energy transfer (PRET) and metal-enhanced fluorescence (MEF) within the same nanometal-fluorophore pair is fascinating but challenging. In this study, we presented a possible solution for this by coating plasmonic Au nanoparticles (AuNPs) with temperature-sensitive poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (pNIPAM) shells and R6G hybrids, termed the Au@p-R nanoplatform, which could reversibly adjust the separation between dyes and the AuNP surface, enabling an ON/OFF switch between MEF and PRET. In our optimization process, we discovered that 20 kDa of pNIPAM causes an MEF effect owing to an appropriate shrinking distance of 6.86 ± 0.85 nm. This dual-model nanoplatform exhibits great potential for tracking temperature-dependent transitions.
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