Real-Time Fluorescence Detection in Aqueous Systems by Combined and Enhanced Photonic and Surface Effects in Patterned Hollow Sphere Colloidal Photonic Crystals

摘要

src="http://pubs.acs.org/appl/literatum/publisher/achs/journals/content/langd5/2017/langd5.2017.33.issue-19/acs.langmuir.7b00955/20170510/images/medium/la-2017-009558_0007.gif">Hollow sphere colloidal photonic crystals (HSCPCs) exhibit the ability to maintain a high refractive index contrast after infiltration of water, leading to extremely high-quality photonic band gap effects, even in an aqueous (physiological) environment. Superhydrophilic pinning centers in a superhydrophobic environment can be used to strongly confine and concentrate water-soluble analytes. We report a strategy to realize real-time ultrasensitive fluorescence detection in patterned HSCPCs based on strongly enhanced fluorescence due to the photonic band-edge effect combined with wettability differentiation in the superhydrophobic/superhydrophilic pattern. The orthogonal nature of the two strategies allows for a multiplicative effect, resulting in an increase of two orders of magnitude in fluorescence.