Fluorescent Few-Atom Clusters of Silver Formed in Organic Solvents on Polymeric Supports

Abstract

Few-atom silver clusters are fluorophores with a set of attractive properties including sub-nanometer size, high quantum yield and large Stokes shift. Sharing high photostability with semiconductor quantum dots but being of much smaller size, lacking blinking and with expected lack of toxicity, they are especially attractive for biological imaging, down to single molecules. No less promising are their applications in chemical sensing and biosensing as well as for molecular optic and electronic devices on a single molecular level. We demonstrate that it is not a unique property of water that can provide the formation and stability of silver clusters. They can be produced on photoreduction in different organic solvents using the same polymeric template. Unique photophysical properties of these clusters share both similarities and differences to that of organic dyes. When you are citing the document, use the following link http://essuir.sumdu.edu.ua/handle/123456789/35122