title: Enhancing the photoluminescence of peptide-coated nanocrystals with shell composition and UV irradiation.
abstract: The composition and structure of inorganic shells grown over CdSe semiconductor nanocrystal dots and rods were optimized to yield enhanced photoluminescence properties after ligand exchange followed by coating with phytochelatin-related peptides. We show that, in addition to the peptides imparting superior colloidal properties and providing biofunctionality in a single-step reaction, the improved shells and pretreatment with UV irradiation resulted in high quantum yields for the nanocrystals in water. Moreover, peptide coating caused a noticeable red-shift in the absorption and emission spectra for one of the tested shells, suggesting that exciton-molecular orbital (X-MO) coupling might take place in these hybrid inorganic-organic composite materials.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, and Department of Physiology, University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California 90095, USA.
authors.forename: James M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Tsay
authors.forename: Sören
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Doose
authors.forename: Fabien
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Pinaud
authors.forename: Shimon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Weiss
mesh_terms: D019187:Cadmium Compounds / Q000737:chemistry; D002625:Chemistry, Organic / Q000379:methods; D002627:Chemistry, Physical / Q000379:methods*; D003102:Colloids / Q000737:chemistry; D005978:Glutathione / Q000737:chemistry; D008027:Light; D049449:Luminescence; D053758:Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry*; D036103:Nanotechnology / Q000379:methods; D010455:Peptides / Q000737:chemistry; D054811:Phytochelatins; D018036:Selenium Compounds / Q000737:chemistry; D012666:Semiconductors; D013440:Sulfides / Q000737:chemistry; D014466:Ultraviolet Rays; D017967:Zinc Compounds / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D019187:Cadmium Compounds; D003102:Colloids; D010455:Peptides; D018036:Selenium Compounds; D013440:Sulfides; D017967:Zinc Compounds; C034939:cadmium sulfide; D054811:Phytochelatins; C058667:cadmium selenide; D005978:Glutathione; C031238:zinc sulfide