Rapid assembly of fluorescence enhanced plasmonic dimers for intracellular single-particle imaging

Abstract

Fluorescence enhanced plasmonic dimers were successfully synthesized from assembled gold nanoparticles and coated with a silica shell of different thicknesses with yields around 70%, and then the fluorescence enhancement of Cy5 adsorbed on their surface was adjusted by controlling the coated SiO₂ shell thickness. In situ cellular confocal imaging of this dimer fluorescent probe achieved about 9-fold enhancement which matched with the simulation calculations.