Plasmonic nanoparticles enhancing blue emission from nematic liquid crystal

•The maximum blue emission enhancement of 5CB is about 1.8-fold under optimized doping concentration from Ag nanoparticles.•Comparing with Ag NPs doped 5CB substrates, only 1.4-fold PL enhancement is found in those samples doped with Au NPs.•These experiment results are consistent with the finite difference time domain (FDTD) numerical analyses.•The near-field distribution of the emitting dipole in presence of Ag particles is increased drastically in the FDTD numerical analysis. The photoluminescence (PL) performance of 5CB (n-pentyl-n′-cyanobiphenyl) containing with various concentrations of Ag and Au nanoparticles have been investigated. The PL enhancement and quenching of 5CB are found when the concentrations of dopants are in range of 60–80 μL and 40–60 μL, respectively. Associated with localized surface plasmon (LSP) resonance effect from Ag nanoparticles, the maximum emission enhancement of 5CB is about 1.8-fold under optimized doping concentration. It can be attributed to the spectral overlap between the LSP energy of metal particle and the excitation/emission spectra of 5CB. Comparing with Ag NPs doped 5CB substrates, only 1.4-fold PL enhancement is found in those samples doped with Au NPs, which is consistent with the finite difference time domain (FDTD) numerical analyses.