Issue 6, 2023

Fluorescence excitation enhancement by waveguiding nanowires

Abstract

The optical properties of vertical semiconductor nanowires can allow an enhancement of fluorescence from surface-bound fluorophores, a feature proven useful in biosensing. One of the contributing factors to the fluorescence enhancement is thought to be the local increase of the incident excitation light intensity in the vicinity of the nanowire surface, where fluorophores are located. However, this effect has not been experimentally studied in detail to date. Here, we quantify the excitation enhancement of fluorophores bound to a semiconductor nanowire surface by combining modelling with measurements of fluorescence photobleaching rate, indicative of the excitation light intensity, using epitaxially grown GaP nanowires. We study the excitation enhancement for nanowires with a diameter of 50–250 nm and show that excitation enhancement reaches a maximum for certain diameters, depending on the excitation wavelength. Furthermore, we find that the excitation enhancement decreases rapidly within tens of nanometers from the nanowire sidewall. The results can be used to design nanowire-based optical systems with exceptional sensitivities for bioanalytical applications.

Graphical abstract: Fluorescence excitation enhancement by waveguiding nanowires

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
26 out 2022
Accepted
20 fev 2023
First published
20 fev 2023
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY-NC license

Nanoscale Adv., 2023,5, 1760-1766

Fluorescence excitation enhancement by waveguiding nanowires

I. N. Unksov, N. Anttu, D. Verardo, F. Höök, C. N. Prinz and H. Linke, Nanoscale Adv., 2023, 5, 1760 DOI: 10.1039/D2NA00749E

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