Highly fluorescent noble-metal quantum dots

Highly fluorescent, water-soluble, few-atom noble-metal quantum dots have been created that behave as multielectron artificial atoms with discrete, size-tunable electronic transitions throughout the visible and near infrared. These molecular metals exhibit highly polarizable transitions and scale in...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inAnnual review of physical chemistry Vol. 58; p. 409
Main Authors Zheng, Jie, Nicovich, Philip R, Dickson, Robert M
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States 01.01.2007
Subjects
Fluorescent Dyes - chemistry
Metals - chemistry
Models, Chemical
Nanostructures - chemistry
Photochemistry
Quantum Dots
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Summary:Highly fluorescent, water-soluble, few-atom noble-metal quantum dots have been created that behave as multielectron artificial atoms with discrete, size-tunable electronic transitions throughout the visible and near infrared. These molecular metals exhibit highly polarizable transitions and scale in size according to the simple relation E(Fermi)/N(1/3), predicted by the free-electron model of metallic behavior. This simple scaling indicates that fluorescence arises from intraband transitions of free electrons, and these conduction-electron transitions are the low-number limit of the plasmon-the collective dipole oscillations occurring when a continuous density of states is reached. Providing the missing link between atomic and nanoparticle behavior in noble metals, these emissive, water-soluble Au nanoclusters open new opportunities for biological labels, energy-transfer pairs, and light-emitting sources in nanoscale optoelectronics.
ISSN:0066-426X
1545-1593
DOI:10.1146/annurev.physchem.58.032806.104546