Glycine-coated photoluminescent silver nanoclusters

摘要

We present experimental results on the multicolor (blue and green) photoluminescence from glycine-coated silver nanoclusters and small nanoparticles which can be used as novel probes for bio-imaging. Glycine-coated silver nanoclusters and nanoparticles were synthesized using thermal reduction of silver nitrate in a glycine matrix, according to a modified procedure described in literature. The size characterization with mass spectrometry, scanning electron microscopy and dynamic light scattering showed that the diameters of luminescent silver nanoclusters and small nanoparticles vary from 0.5 nm to 17 nm. Extinction spectroscopy revealed that the absorption band of the luminescent nanoclusters and nanoparticles was blue-shifted as compared to the non-luminescent larger silver nanoparticles. This effect indicated the well-known size dependence of the surface plasmon resonance in silver. The most pronounced photoluminescence peak was observed around 410 nm (characteristic SPR wavelength for silver) which strongly suggests the enhancement of the photoluminescence from silver nanoparticles by the SPR. The relative quantum yield of the photoluminescence of silver nanoclusters and nanoparticles was evaluated to be 0.09. In terms of their small size, brightness and photostability, noble metal nanoclusters and nanoparticles hold the most promise as candidates for biological cell imaging, competing with commonly used semiconductor quantum dots, fluorescent proteins and organic dyes. When applied to the problem of intracellular imaging, metal nanoclusters and small nanoparticles offer advantages over their much larger sized semiconductor counterparts in terms of ease of biological delivery. In addition, noble metal nanoparticles and nanoclusters are photostable.2 The high quantum yield (QY) of the photoluminescence emission signal enables the isolation of their photoluminescence from the cellular autofluorescence in cell imaging, improving the image contrast.