Nanowire‐Intensified Metal‐Enhanced Fluorescence in Hybrid Polymer‐Plasmonic Electrospun Filaments |
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Authors: | Andrea Camposeo Radoslaw Jurga Maria Moffa Alberto Portone Francesco Cardarelli Fabio Della Sala Cristian Ciracì Dario Pisignano |
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Affiliation: | 1. NEST, Istituto Nanoscienze‐CNR, Pisa, Italy;2. Center for Biomolecular Nanotechnologies@UNILE, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Arnesano, Italy;3. Dipartimento di Matematica e Fisica “Ennio De Giorgi”, Università del Salento, Lecce, Italy;4. Institute for Microelectronics and Microsystems (CNR‐IMM), Via Monteroni, Lecce, Italy;5. Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Pisa, Pisa, Italy |
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Abstract: | Hybrid polymer‐plasmonic nanostructures might combine high enhancement of localized fields from metal nanoparticles with light confinement and long‐range transport in subwavelength dielectric structures. Here, the complex behavior of fluorophores coupling to Au nanoparticles within polymer nanowires, which features localized metal‐enhanced fluorescence (MEF) with unique characteristics compared to conventional structures, is reported. The intensification effect when the particle is placed in the organic filaments is remarkably higher with respect to thin films of comparable thickness, thus highlighting a specific, nanowire‐related enhancement of MEF effects. A dependence on the confinement volume in the dielectric nanowire is also indicated, with MEF significantly increasing upon reduction of the wire diameter. These findings are rationalized by finite element simulations, predicting a position‐dependent enhancement of the quantum yield of fluorophores embedded in the fibers. Calculation of the ensemble‐averaged fluorescence enhancement unveils the possibility of strongly enhancing the overall emission intensity for structures with size twice the diameter of the embedded metal particles. These new, hybrid fluorescent systems with localized enhanced emission, and the general nanowire‐enhanced MEF effects associated to them, are highly relevant for developing nanoscale light‐emitting devices with high efficiency and intercoupled through nanofiber networks, highly sensitive optical sensors, and novel laser architectures. |
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Keywords: | electrospinning gold nanoparticles metal‐enhanced fluorescence nanofibers |
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