Blinking suppression of colloidal CdSe/ZnS quantum dots by coupling to silver nanoprisms

Abstract

Fluorescence blinking of quantum dots (QDs) is a common but annoying behavior for practical applications as fluorescent markers or single photon sources. We demonstrate here, by coupling colloidal CdSe/ZnS QDs to silver nanoprisms, fluorescence blinking behavior can be suppressed. For most of coupled QDs, two emissive states with different fluorescence intensities and lifetime were observed. We suggest that energy transfer could play an important role in suppressing blinking behavior.