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Exciton–plasmon interactions in molecular spring assemblies of nanowires and wavelength-based protein detection

Nature Materials volume 6, pages 291–295 (2007)Cite this article

Abstract

Electronic interactions at the nanoscale represent one of the fundamental problems of nanotechnology. Excitons and plasmons are the two most typical excited states of nanostructures, which have been shown to produce coupled electronic systems1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11. Here, we explore these interactions for the case of nanowires with mobile excitons and nanoparticles with localized plasmons and describe the theoretical formalism, its experimental validation and the potential practical applications of such nanoscale systems. Theory predicts that emission of coupled excitations in nanowires with variable electronic confinement is stronger, shorter and blue-shifted. These predictions were confirmed with a high degree of accuracy in molecular spring assemblies of CdTe nanowires and Au nanoparticles, where we can reversibly change the distance between the exciton and the plasmon. The prepared systems were made protein-sensitive by incorporating antibodies in the molecular springs. Modulation of exciton–plasmon interactions can serve as a wavelength-based biodetection tool, which can resolve difficulties in the quantification of luminescence intensity for complex media and optical pathways.

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Figure 1: Theoretical model and results for exciton dynamic calculations in the nanowire assemblies with Au nanoparticles.
Figure 2: Preparation of NW–NP superstructures with PEG molecular springs.
Figure 3: Wavelength shift in the NW–PEG–aB–PEG–NP superstructure.
Figure 4: Calibration curve for SA.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank J. H. Bahng, Biomedical Engineering Department, University of Michigan, for useful discussion and assistance in biological experiments. The project was supported by NSF (N.A.K. and A.O.G.), DARPA, AFOSR, NIH (N.A.K.) and Ohio University (A.O.G.).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemical Engineering, Materials Science and Engineering, and Biomedical Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, USA

    Jaebeom Lee, Jungwoo Lee & Nicholas A. Kotov

  2. Department of Nanomedical Engineering, Pusan National University, Busan 609-735, Korea

    Jaebeom Lee

  3. Department of Physics and Astronomy, Ohio University, Athens, Ohio 45701, USA

    Pedro Hernandez & Alexander O. Govorov

Authors
  1. Jaebeom Lee
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  2. Pedro Hernandez
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  4. Alexander O. Govorov
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Contributions

N.A.K. and J.L. carried out the experimental work and bio-assembly, whereas A.O.G. and P.H. carried out the theoretical study and modelling.

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Correspondence to Alexander O. Govorov or Nicholas A. Kotov.

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Lee, J., Hernandez, P., Lee, J. et al. Exciton–plasmon interactions in molecular spring assemblies of nanowires and wavelength-based protein detection. Nature Mater 6, 291–295 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat1869

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