Issue 22, 2016

Fabrication of freestanding silk fibroin films containing Ag nanowires/NaYF4:Yb,Er nanocomposites with metal-enhanced fluorescence behavior

Abstract

Solar cells containing upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs) used as a power source in biomedical nanosystems have attracted great interest. However, such solar cells further need to be developed because their substrate materials should be biocompatible, flexible and highly luminescent. Here, we report that freestanding silk fibroin (SF) films containing a mesh of silver nanowires (AgNWs) and β-NaYF4:Yb,Er nanocrystals with metal-enhanced fluorescence behavior can be fabricated. The freestanding composite films exhibit properties such as good optical transparency, conductivity and flexibility. Furthermore, they show significantly enhanced upconversion fluorescence due to surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) of AgNWs compared to the SF–UCNP films without AgNWs. The freestanding composite films with metal-enhanced fluorescence behavior show great promise for future applications in self-powered nanodevices such as cardiac pacemakers, biosensors and nanorobots.

Graphical abstract: Fabrication of freestanding silk fibroin films containing Ag nanowires/NaYF4:Yb,Er nanocomposites with metal-enhanced fluorescence behavior

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
28 Mar 2016
Accepted
06 May 2016
First published
09 May 2016

Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2016,18, 15289-15294

Fabrication of freestanding silk fibroin films containing Ag nanowires/NaYF4:Yb,Er nanocomposites with metal-enhanced fluorescence behavior

B. Zhao, N. Qi, K. Zhang and X. Gong, Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2016, 18, 15289 DOI: 10.1039/C6CP02024K

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