Issue 17, 2023

Plasmonic quenching and enhancement: metal–quantum dot nanohybrids for fluorescence biosensing

Abstract

Plasmonic metal nanoparticles and semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) are two of the most widely applied nanomaterials for optical biosensing and bioimaging. While their combination for fluorescence quenching via nanosurface energy transfer (NSET) or Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) offers powerful ways of tuning and amplifying optical signals and is relatively common, metal–QD nanohybrids for plasmon-enhanced fluorescence (PEF) have been much less prevalent. A major reason is the competition between fluorescence quenching and enhancement, which poses important challenges for optimizing distances, orientations, and spectral overlap toward maximum PEF. In this feature article, we discuss the interplay of the different quenching and enhancement mechanisms (a mixed distance dependence of quenching and enhancement – “quenchancement”) to better understand the obstacles that must be overcome for the development of metal–QD nanohybrid-based PEF biosensors. The different nanomaterials, their combination within various surface and solution based design concepts, and their structural and photophysical characterization are reviewed and applications toward advanced optical biosensing and bioimaging are presented along with guidelines and future perspectives for sensitive, selective, and versatile bioanalytical research and biomolecular diagnostics with metal–QD nanohybrids.

Graphical abstract: Plasmonic quenching and enhancement: metal–quantum dot nanohybrids for fluorescence biosensing

Article information

Article type
Feature Article
Submitted
15 11 2022
Accepted
13 1 2023
First published
19 1 2023

Chem. Commun., 2023,59, 2352-2380

Plasmonic quenching and enhancement: metal–quantum dot nanohybrids for fluorescence biosensing

N. Hildebrandt, M. Lim, N. Kim, D. Y. Choi and J. Nam, Chem. Commun., 2023, 59, 2352 DOI: 10.1039/D2CC06178C

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