Highly efficient and tunable fluorescence of a nanofluorophore in silica/metal dual shells with plasmonic resonance

A dual-shell structure consisting of a silica buffer shell and a metallic outer shell is studied and designed for highly efficient and tunable fluorescence. The enhanced Purcell effect due to the plasmonic resonance and the dependence of the resonance on the structural parameters are analyzed and discussed through a classical electromagnetic approach. With the present dual-shell structure a fivefold enhancement of the fluorescence efficiency can be achieved for a nanofluorophore comprised of multiple tetramethylrhodamine isothiocyanate dye molecules, as compared to the nanofluorophore within a single silica shell. Furthermore, the peak wavelength of the fluorescence spectrum can be tuned easily (due to the variation of the surface plasmon resonance) by over 50 nm when the refractive index of the ambient material varies from 1.3 to 1.6.