Light emission enhancement using randomly distributed plasmonic nanoparticle arrays

•The fabrication of solution processed gold nanoparticle plasmonic array is reported.•FDTD calculations are used to model the optical properties of the array.•Up to 7 times enhancement in the emission intensity is predicted.•Three times enhancement in the emission intensity is achieved experimentally.•There is a potential of using such structures in OLED and bio-sensing devices. We have fabricated and characterised the optical properties of solution processed randomly distributed gold nanoparticle plasmonic arrays that are coated with a thin-film fluorescent dye. Three times enhancement in the emission intensity of the fluorescent dye Pyridine 2 has been observed. Our results are further supported by finite difference time domain simulations that predicted up to 7 times enhancements in the emission intensity as a result of the coupling between the molecular dipoles and the confined field in the underlying plasmonic array. Our results demonstrate the potential of using such structures in organic light emitting devices and chemical and bio-sensing applications.