Bimetallic Nanoshells for Metal-Enhanced Fluorescence with Broad Band Fluorophores

In this article, we reported the near-field interactions between the Ru(bpy)3 2+ complexes and plasmon resonances from the bimetallic nanoshells. The metallic nanoshells were fabricated on 20 nm silica spheres as cores by depositing 10 nm of monometallic or bimetallic shells. There were approximately 15 Ru(bpy)3 2+ complexes in the silica core. The metal shells were constituted of silver and/or gold. The bimetallic shells could be generated in homogeneous or heterogeneous geometries. The homogeneous bimetallic shells contained 10 nm silver–gold alloys. The heterogeneous bimetallic shells contained successive 5 nm gold and 5 nm silver shells, or alternatively, 5 nm silver and 5 nm gold shells. Optical properties of metal nanoshells were studied on both the ensemble spectra and single nanoparticle imaging measurements. The heterogeneous bimetallic shells were found to have a large scale of metal-enhanced emission relative to the monometallic or homogeneous bimetallic shells. It is because the heterogeneous bimetallic shells may display split dual plasmon resonances, which can interact with the excitation and emission bands of the Ru(bpy)3 2+ complexes in the silica cores leading to more efficient near-field interactions. The prediction can be demonstrated by the lifetimes. Therefore, it is suggested that both the compositions and geometries of the metal shells can influence the interactions with the fluorophores in the cores. This observation also offers us an opportunity for developing plasmon-based fluorescence metal nanoparticles as novel nanoparticle imaging agents, which have high performances in fluorescence cell or tissue imaging.