Open AccessUltrabright bimetallic AuAg complex: From luminescence mechanism to biological application
Author(s) -
Junchi Chen,
Lingfang Liu,
Haile Liu,
Yonghui Li,
Junying Wang,
Xiaoyu Mu,
Fujuan Xu,
Tianyu Li,
Xiao Dong Zhang
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
journal of innovative optical health sciences/journal of innovation in optical health science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.421
H-Index - 24
eISSN - 1793-5458
pISSN - 1793-7205
DOI - 10.1142/s1793545820410011
Subject(s) - nanoclusters , density functional theory , luminescence , quantum yield , bimetallic strip , materials science , fluorescence , photochemistry , homo/lumo , nanotechnology , metal , biocompatibility , chemical physics , optoelectronics , chemistry , computational chemistry , molecule , optics , organic chemistry , physics , metallurgy
Metal clusters have attracted wide interests due to their unique electronic and optical properties, but the low luminescence quantum yield (QY) prevents them from potential biomedical applications. In this work, silver-doped Au nanoclusters (NCs) are shown to be able to improve the QY of metal clusters. We succeeded in synthesizing ultrabright glutathione (GSH) protected AuAg clusters with 10.8% QY by a one-pot route. Their florescence is about 7.5 times brighter than pure Au NCs, with super photostability and good biocompatibility in physiological environment. Based on density functional theory (DFT) calculations, we investigated the electronic structures and optical properties of the AuAg NCs. The results show that the increase of the density of states of the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) leads to the fluorescence enhancement. In addition, two-photon excitation fluorescence imaging has been performed to show their great potential for biomedicine.