title: Predicting signatures of anisotropic resonance energy transfer in dye-functionalized nanoparticles.
abstract: Resonance energy transfer (RET) is an inherently anisotropic process. Even the simplest, well-known Förster theory, based on the transition dipole-dipole coupling, implicitly incorporates the anisotropic character of RET. In this theoretical work, we study possible signatures of the fundamental anisotropic character of RET in hybrid nanomaterials composed of a semiconductor nanoparticle (NP) decorated with molecular dyes. In particular, by means of a realistic kinetic model, we show that the analysis of the dye photoluminescence difference for orthogonal input polarizations reveals the anisotropic character of the dye-NP RET which arises from the intrinsic anisotropy of the NP lattice. In a prototypical core/shell wurtzite CdSe/ZnS NP functionalized with cyanine dyes (Cy3B), this difference is predicted to be as large as 75% and it is strongly dependent in amplitude and sign on the dye-NP distance. We account for all the possible RET processes within the system, together with competing decay pathways in the separate segments. In addition, we show that the anisotropic signature of RET is persistent up to a large number of dyes per NP.
authors.affiliation: S3 , CNR-Istituto Nanoscienze , Via Campi 213/A , 41125 Modena , Italy . Email: gabrieljose.gilperez@nano.cnr.it ; Tel: +39 059 205 5283 ; Dipartimento di Scienze Fisiche , Informatiche e Matematiche , Università degli Studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia , Via Campi 213/A , 41125 Modena , Italy ; Instituto de Cibernética , Matemática y Física , Calle E No. 309 , 10400 Havana , Cuba.
authors.forename: Gabriel
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Gil
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Scienze Fisiche , Informatiche e Matematiche , Università degli Studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia , Via Campi 213/A , 41125 Modena , Italy.
authors.forename: Stefano
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Corni
authors.affiliation: Advanced Research Complex , University of Ottawa , 25 Templeton Street , K1N6N5 Ottawa , ON , Canada ; Centro de Aplicaciones Tecnológicas y Desarrollo Nuclear , Calle 30 No. 502 e/5ta y 7ma Avenida, Playa , Havana , Cuba.
authors.forename: Alain
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Delgado
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Scienze Fisiche , Informatiche e Matematiche , Università degli Studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia , Via Campi 213/A , 41125 Modena , Italy.
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bertoni
authors.affiliation: S3 , CNR-Istituto Nanoscienze , Via Campi 213/A , 41125 Modena , Italy . Email: gabrieljose.gilperez@nano.cnr.it ; Tel: +39 059 205 5283 ; Dipartimento di Scienze Fisiche , Informatiche e Matematiche , Università degli Studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia , Via Campi 213/A , 41125 Modena , Italy.
authors.forename: Guido
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Goldoni