Fluorescence correlation spectroscopy of gold nanoparticles

Abstract

Diffusion dynamics of gold nanoparticles (GNPs) was studied by fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS). The fluorescence was studied by exciting the particles by green laser (532 nm), which is far from longitudinal plasmon band of nanorods. Transmission electron microscope (TEM) and UV-Vis-NIR spectrometer were used to characterize the gold nanoparticles. Despite their low quantum yields, GNPs possess the native fluorescence. The excellent antiphotobleaching behavior of gold nanorods leads to prospects of using FCS for its detailed studies. Using FCS, dynamic information can be extracted from the fluorescence fluctuations in the system by autocorrelation function. Maximum entropy method (MEMFCS) was used to identify the number of distinct components present in the system. The particle sizes obtained from FCS were found to be higher (by few orders of magnitude) compared to TEM analysis. This might be due to the possible contributions from cetyltrimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB) capping in the system.