Metal-enhanced fluorescence in polymer composite films with Au@Ag@SiO2 nanoparticles and InP@ZnS quantum dots

Ki-Se Kim; Maulida Zakia; Jinhwan Yoon; Seong Il Yoo

doi:10.1039/c8ra08802k

Metal-enhanced fluorescence in polymer composite films with Au@Ag@SiO₂ nanoparticles and InP@ZnS quantum dots

RSC Adv. 2019 Jan 2;9(1):224-233. doi: 10.1039/c8ra08802k. eCollection 2018 Dec 19.

Authors

Ki-Se Kim¹, Maulida Zakia², Jinhwan Yoon³, Seong Il Yoo²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemistry, Seoul National University Seoul 08826 Republic of Korea.
² Department of Polymer Engineering, Pukyong National University Busan 48547 Republic of Korea siyoo@pknu.ac.kr.
³ Department of Chemistry Education, Graduate Department of Chemical Materials, Pusan National University Busan 46241 Republic of Korea.

Abstract

For white light-emitting diode (LED) applications, semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) have been widely utilized as efficient down-converters to change the blue color of the light source into different emission colors. Because QDs offer spectral tunability over the entire visible light range, as well as improved color purity, they have rapidly replaced conventional phosphor-based white LEDs. However, for the sustainable growth of QD-mediated LEDs, the amount of QDs required must be reduced by enhancing the color-conversion efficiency. For this purpose, we prepared poly(lauryl methacrylate) (PLMA) composite films by the photo-crosslinking polymerization of lauryl methacrylate monomers in the presence of Au@Ag@SiO₂ nanoparticles (NPs) and InP@ZnS QDs. In the PLMA composites, the Au@Ag NPs not only amplified the blue light source but also modified the relaxation of the excited QDs via localized surface plasmon resonance. This resulted in a maximum 12.9-fold enhancement in the QD fluorescence. Because the blue light source in this study can be easily replaced by blue LEDs, the enhanced efficiency of QD emissions via the plasmonic effect could potentially increase the performance of QDs for display applications.