Fluorescent core-shell silica nanoparticles as tunable precursors: towards encoding and multifunctional nano-probes

Core-shell silica nanoparticles comprised of a RuBpy doped silica core and a Pas-DTPA doped silica shell were synthesized and post-functionalized with an encoding fluorescence combination and multiplex imaging function

Manipulating Optical Scattering of Quasi-BIC in Dielectric Metasurface with Off-Center Hole

Bound states in the continuum (BICs) correspond to a particular leaky mode with an infinitely large quality-factor (Q-factor) located within the continuum spectrum. To date, most of the research work reported focuses on the BIC-enhanced light matter interaction due to its extreme near-field confinement. Little attention has been paid to the scattering properties of the BIC mode. In this work, we numerically study the far-field radiation manipulation of BICs by exploring multipole interference. By simply breaking the symmetry of the silicon metasurface, an ideal BIC is converted to a quasi-BIC with a finite Q-factor, which is manifested by the Fano resonance in the transmission spectrum. We found that both the intensity and directionality of the far-field radiation pattern can not only be tuned by the asymmetric parameters but can also experience huge changes around the resonance. Even for the same structure, two quasi-BICs show a different radiation pattern evolution when the asymmetric structure parameter d increases. It can be found that far-field radiation from one BIC evolves from electric-quadrupole-dominant radiation to toroidal-dipole-dominant radiation, whereas the other one shows electric-dipole-like radiation due to the interference of the magnetic dipole and electric quadrupole with the increasing asymmetric parameters. The result may find applications in high-directionality nonlinear optical devices and semiconductor lasers by using a quasi-BIC-based metasurface

A Photoelectrochemical Sensor Based on DNA Bio-Dots-Induced Aggregation of AuNPs for Methionine Detection

Based on DNA bio-dots-induced aggregation of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs), a methionine (Met) photoelectrochemical (PEC) sensor with CS–GSH–CuNCs/TiO2 NPs as the photoelectric conversion element and AuNPs as the specific recognition element was constructed. First, a TiO2 NPs/ITO electrode and CS–GSH–CuNCs were prepared, and then the CS–GSH–CuNCs/TiO2 NPs/ITO photosensitive electrode was obtained by self-assembly. Next, DNA bio-dots were modified to the upper surface of the electrode using a coupling reaction to assemble the DNA bio-dots/CS–GSH–CuNCs/TiO2 NPs electrode. Amino-rich DNA bio-dots were used to induce the aggregation of AuNPs on the electrode surface via Au–N interactions and prepare the AuNPs/DNA bio-dots/CS–GSH–CuNCs/TiO2 NPs electrode. Due to the fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) between CS–GSH–CuNCs and AuNPs, the complexation chance of electron-hole (e−-h+) pair in CS–GSH–CuNCs increased, which, in turn, led to a decrease in photocurrent intensity. When Met was present, AuNPs aggregated on the electrode surface were shed and bound to Met since the Au–S interaction is stronger than the Au–N interaction, resulting in the recovery of the photocurrent signal. Under optimal conditions, the photocurrent intensity of the PEC sensor showed good linearity with the logarithm of Met concentration in the range of 25.0 nmol/L–10.0 μmol/L with the limit of detection (LOD) of 5.1 nmol/L (S/N = 3, n = 10)

Special Effect of Ionic Liquids on the Extraction of Flavonoid Glycosides from Chrysanthemum morifolium Ramat by Microwave Assistance

A microwave-assisted extraction approach based on ionic liquids of different chain lengths was successfully applied to the extraction of ten flavonoid glycosides from the flowering heads of Chrysanthemum morifolium Ramat. The pretreated sample was quantified by HPLC-ESI-MSn. The main components were identified as flavonoid glycosides, including three luteolin glycosides, three apigenin glycosides, three kaempferide glycosides, and one acacetin glycoside according to the characteristics of the corresponding CID mass spectrometric patterns. Eight ionic liquids from the imidazolium family with different chain lengths, namely, 1-alkyl-3-methylimidazolium bromide, [Cnmim]Br, (n = 2–16) were studied as extraction medium in water. Results indicated that alkyl chain length had an irregular impact on the extraction efficiency. Moreover, the best extraction efficiency was achieved by 1-dodecyl-3-methylimidazolium bromide aqueous solution ([C12mim]Br). Besides the alkyl chain length of the cations, other factors influencing extraction efficiency were systematically investigated, including concentration of the IL solutions, extraction time, matrix-to-solvent ratio and irradiation power

Strong Purcell effect of magnetic quasi-BICs in the dielectric metasurface

The ultra-strong light field trapped in micro- and nanostructures, and derived from optical bound states in the continuums (BICs), provides a new platform for the facilitation of light–matter interactions. In this work, the spontaneous emission enhancement of quantum emitters using magnetic quasi-BICs metasurfaces is numerically studied. It is found that ultrahigh Purcell factor (PF) ( ${\gt}10^5$ ) can be easily achieved when the asymmetry parameter decreases. In theory, infinite PF may emerge due to the infinite Q -factor at the BICs. In addition, the PF exhibits a strong dependence on the polarization direction of dipole emitter and the local field distribution in the metasurface. Finally, the photoluminescence enhancement for different perturbation parameters is calculated to confirm strong Purcell effect in the quasi-BICs metasurface. These results show that the magnetic dipole BICs mode holds an enormous potential in manipulating spontaneous emission

Extracting fluorescence signal due to direct excitation of the energy acceptor from quantum dot-based FRET

An "in situ" strategy for extracting the fluorescence signal of dye acceptors due to direct excitation from Qdot-based FRET systems has been reported. The relevant theory model was developed to describe the present strategy. This strategy involves selective control of the quantum yield of Qdot donors "in situ", not only providing a straightforward approach to qualitatively confirm the FRET-based fluorescence enhancement but also allowing us to quantitatively separate the fluorescence signal of dye acceptors due to direct excitation and FRET enhancement from each other with high precision and convenient procedures. Different from existing method which was commonly used in literatures, our "in situ" strategy does not involve complicated quantification of the dye acceptors conjugated on the surface of Qdots. Results indicated that the fraction of the emission from the dye acceptors due to FRET process decreases with the increase in the amount of dye acceptors on the Qdot surface. In addition, the relation between the quantum yield of Qdot donors and the FRET enhancement factor of the dye acceptors have also been explored for the first time by the present "in situ" strategy.Natural Science Foundation of Zhejiang Province [Y4080518]; National Natural Science Foundation of China [20745004

Molecular Rotor-Based Fluorescent Probe for Selective Recognition of Hybrid G‑Quadruplex and as a K⁺ Sensor

This work demonstrates the significant fluorescence enhancement of thioflavin T (ThT) when binding to G-quadruplexes possessing hybrid structures by using UV–vis absorption spectra, fluorescence spectra, and <i>T</i>_m experiments to confirm the binding events. ThT binding does not disturb native G-quadruplex structures preformed in Na⁺ and K⁺ solutions. The fluorescence enhancement is caused by the rotation restriction of benzothiazole (BZT) and dimethylaminobenzene (DMAB) rings in the ThT excited state upon its G-quadruplex binding. This molecular rotor mechanism as a means of fluorescence enhancement is confirmed using a nonrotor analogue of ThT. Hydroxylation and electrolyte experiments demonstrate that ThT stacks on the tetrad of the hybrid G-quadruplexes, whereas electrostatic forces contribute more to ThT binding for other G-quadruplex structures. By stacking on the tetrad, the ThT binding favors selective identification of DNA hybrid G-quadruplex structures with enhanced fluorescence and can serve as a conformation probe to monitor G-quadruplex structure conversion between hybrid and other structures. Using these properties, we developed a selective and label-free fluorescent K⁺ sensor with a detection limit of 1 mM for K⁺ in the presence of 100 mM Na⁺. The coexistence of other metal ions produces a fluorescence response comparable to K⁺ alone. We believe that ThT can potentially provide structure identification of hybrid G-quadruplexes and aid in the construction of G-quadruplex-based sensors