Photochromic-fluorescent-plasmonic nanomaterials: towards integrated three-component photoactive hybrid nanosystems.

Silica-coated gold nanorods functionalized with grafted fluorescent and photochromic derivatives were synthesized and characterized. Spectroscopic investigations demonstrated that cross-coupled interactions between plasmonic, photochromic, and fluorescence properties play a major role in such nanosystems, depending on the thickness of the silica spacer, leading to multi-signal photoswitchability.

Silica-coated gold nanorod arrays for nanoplasmonics devices.

A facile method for growing silica layer on lithographically designed gold nanorod arrays (GNRAs) using a convenient sol-gel method is presented herein. The silica layer thickness was controlled on GNRAs with the reaction time. The localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) spectra of these hybrid metal/dielectric nanoparticles were recorded before and after the coating and the effect of different solvents on the LSPR were also assessed.

Fluorescence photoswitching and photoreversible two-way energy transfer in a photochrome-fluorophore dyad.

A thorough photophysical study of a photochrome-fluorophore dyad (3), combining a fluorescent laser dye (DCM-type, , Φ(1) = 0.27) and a photochromic diarylethene (2), obtained by click chemistry, is presented. In addition to photochromism, the open form (OF) of 2 exhibits fluorescence (Φ(-OF) = 0.