Time and spectrally resolved enhanced fluorescence using silver nanoparticle impregnated polycarbonate substrates

Silver nanoparticle impregnated polycarbonate strips have been investigated as substrates for metal-enhanced photoluminescence of a blue emitting dye molecule (coumarin 102). By considering simultaneous time and spectrally resolved photoluminescence we observed fluorescence enhancement resulting from plasmon coupling with an increase in the emission by a factor of ∼8.5 with an associated reduction in the photon lifetime. We relate the fast and slow components of the observed emission decay to the presence of both monomers and aggregates in the films and we discuss their different responses to the plasmon coupling.