title: Sandwich type plasmonic platform for MEF using silver fractals.
abstract: In this report, we describe a plasmonic platform with silver fractals for metal enhanced fluorescence (MEF) measurements. When a dye containing surface was brought into contact with silver fractals, a significantly enhanced fluorescence signal from the dye was observed. Fluorescence enhancement was studied with the N-methyl-azadioxatriangulenium chloride salt (Me-ADOTA·Cl) in PVA films made from 0.2% PVA (w/v) solution spin-coated on a clean glass coverslip. The Plasmonic Platforms (PP) were assembled by pressing together silver fractals on one glass slide and a separate glass coverslip spin-coated with a uniform Me-ADOTA·Cl in PVA film. In addition, we also tested ADOTA labeled human serum albumin (HSA) deposited on a glass slide for potential PP bioassay applications. Using the new PP, we could achieve more than a 20-fold fluorescence enhancement (bright spots) accompanied by a decrease in the fluorescence lifetime. The experimental results were used to calculate the extinction (excitation) enhancement factor (GA) and fluorescence radiative rate enhancements factor (GF). No change in emission spectrum was observed for a dye with or without contact with fractals. Our studies indicate that this type of PP can be a convenient approach for constructing assays utilizing metal enhanced fluorescence (MEF) without the need for depositing the material directly on metal structures platforms.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Astronomy, Texas Christian University, Fort Worth, TX, USA. sraut@live.unthsc.edu and Department of Cell Biology and Immunology, University of North Texas Health Science Center, Fort Worth, TX, USA. ignacy.gryczynski@unthsc.edu.
authors.forename: Sangram L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Raut
authors.affiliation: Department of Cell Biology and Immunology, University of North Texas Health Science Center, Fort Worth, TX, USA. ignacy.gryczynski@unthsc.edu.
authors.forename: Ryan
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Rich
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Texas at Tyler, Tyler, TX, USA.
authors.forename: Tanya
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Shtoyko
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: Ilkay
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Bora
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: Bo W
authors.initials: BW
authors.lastname: Laursen
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: Thomas Just
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Sørensen
authors.affiliation: Department of Cell Biology and Immunology, University of North Texas Health Science Center, Fort Worth, TX, USA. ignacy.gryczynski@unthsc.edu.
authors.forename: Julian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Borejdo
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Astronomy, Texas Christian University, Fort Worth, TX, USA. sraut@live.unthsc.edu and Department of Cell Biology and Immunology, University of North Texas Health Science Center, Fort Worth, TX, USA. ignacy.gryczynski@unthsc.edu.
authors.forename: Zygmunt
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Gryczynski
authors.affiliation: Department of Cell Biology and Immunology, University of North Texas Health Science Center, Fort Worth, TX, USA. ignacy.gryczynski@unthsc.edu.
authors.forename: Ignacy
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Gryczynski
mesh_terms: D005456:Fluorescent Dyes / Q000737:chemistry; D017709:Fractals; D006801:Humans; D018613:Microscopy, Confocal; D049329:Nanostructures / Q000737:chemistry; D012709:Serum Albumin / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D012834:Silver / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D005456:Fluorescent Dyes; D012709:Serum Albumin; D012834:Silver