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Investigating Fluorescence Quenching of ZnS Quantum Dots by Silver Nanoparticles

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Abstract

Water dispersible zinc sulfide quantum dots (ZnS QDs) with an average diameter of 2.9 nm were synthesized in an environment friendly method using chitosan as stabilizing agent. These nanocrystals displayed characteristic absorption and emission spectra having an absorbance edge at 300 nm and emission maxima (λ emission) at 427 nm. Citrate-capped silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) of ca. 37-nm diameter were prepared by modified Turkevich process. The fluorescence of ZnS QDs was significantly quenched in presence of Ag NPs in a concentration-dependent manner with K sv value of 9 × 109 M−1. The quenching mechanism was analyzed using Stern–Volmer plot which indicated mixed nature of quenching. Static mechanism was evident from the formation of electrostatic complex between positively charged ZnS QDs and negatively charged Ag NPs as confirmed by absorbance study. Due to excellent overlap between ZnS QDs emission and surface plasmon resonance band of Ag NPs, the role of energy transfer process as an additional quenching mechanism was investigated by time-resolved fluorescence measurements. Time-correlated single-photon counting study demonstrated decrease in average lifetime of ZnS QDs fluorescence in presence of Ag NPs. The corresponding Förster distance for the present QD–NP pair was calculated to be 18.4 nm.

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Acknowledgement

This research was supported by the Department of Biotechnology (Nos. BT/01/NE/PS/08, and BT/PR9988/NNT/28/76/2007), Department of Science and Technology (SR/S5/NM-01/2005 and 2/2/2005-S.F.), and Council of Scientific and Industrial research (CSIR). Pallab Sanpui is thankful to CSIR for fellowship. Assistance from Central instruments facility (CIF) IIT Guwahati is gratefully acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biotechnology, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Guwahati-39, Assam, India

    Amit Jaiswal & Siddhartha Sankar Ghosh

  2. Centre for Nanotechnology, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Guwahati-39, Assam, India

    Pallab Sanpui, Arun Chattopadhyay & Siddhartha Sankar Ghosh

  3. Department of Chemistry, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Guwahati-39, Assam, India

    Arun Chattopadhyay

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  1. Amit Jaiswal
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  2. Pallab Sanpui
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  3. Arun Chattopadhyay
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  4. Siddhartha Sankar Ghosh
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Correspondence to Arun Chattopadhyay or Siddhartha Sankar Ghosh.

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Jaiswal, A., Sanpui, P., Chattopadhyay, A. et al. Investigating Fluorescence Quenching of ZnS Quantum Dots by Silver Nanoparticles. Plasmonics 6, 125–132 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11468-010-9177-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11468-010-9177-0

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