Aspect ratio dependence of the enhanced fluorescence intensity of gold nanorods: experimental and simulation study

Experimental observations and theoretical treatments are carried out for the band shape and relative intensity of the emission from gold nanorods of various aspect ratios in the range between 2.25 (1.5 theory) and 6.0 (9 theory). The calculation of the fluorescence spectra requires knowledge of the nanorod size distribution, the enhancement factors, and the shape of the unenhanced fluorescence spectrum. The size distribution is determined from the fit of the observed absorption spectrum for each value of aspect ratio studied to the theoretical model of Gans. The theory by Boyd and Shen is used for calculating the enhancement of the fluorescence spectrum of the previously observed weak emission of bulk gold, which originates from the interband transition. This is carried out for nanorods of different aspect ratios. To compare theory to the observed nanorod fluorescence spectra, which suffer from self-absorption, the calculated nanorod fluorescence spectra are corrected for this effect using the observed absorption spectra. The comparison between the observed and the calculated fluorescence band shapes is found to be good. The calculated changes in the relative intensities upon changing the aspect ratios are found to be much greater than that observed. This is due to the fact that for the observed emission of all the nanorods studied nonradiative processes dominate the relaxation mechanism of the excited state, a fact that was not included in the theoretical treatments.