A brief summary of our ongoing efforts to understand the surface properties of nanoparticles using fluorophores, namely pyrene alkanethiols, is presented. Excited state interactions were investigated by varying the length of the spacer group and the concentration of fluorophore. The flexible long alkyl chain tethering pyrene in Au-P2/Au-P3 allows free interaction between fluorophores resulting in excimer formation whereas the intermolecular interactions are limited in the Au-P1 system due to the restriction imposed by the curvature of spherical gold nanoparticle. A gradual increase in the peak intensity ratio of III/I band of the normal fluorescence of pyrene was observed indicating that the surface of nanoparticle is more polar than the bulk solvent (toluene).
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