Ag@Aggregation-induced emission dye core/shell nanostructures with enhanced one- and two-photon fluorescence

Abstract Combining plasmonic nanostructures with two-photon fluorescence materials is a promising way to significantly enhance two-photon fluorescence. Ag@1,4-bis(2-cyano-2-phenylethenyl) benzene (BCPEB) core/shell nanostructures were fabricated by simply incubating the isolated Ag nanoparticles with BCPEB microrods in ethanol. BCPEB was chosen as the fluorescent organic molecule owing to the aggregation-induced-emission (AIE) nature which would reduce the emission loss as being practically applied in solid phase. By utilizing the match of the extinction spectrum of Ag nanoparticles and BCPEB's absorption band, the target Ag@BCPEB core/shell nanostructures showed an enhanced one-photon (12×) fluorescence, integrating with SERS signal as well. Moreover, the resultant second harmonic generation of Ag nanoparticles under two-photon excitation also well matched with the absorption band of BCPEB, and significant enhanced two-photon (17×) fluorescence was obtained. The confocal images of NIH-3T3 cells with these nanostructures under one- and two-photon excitation showed good contrast and brightness for bio-imaging.