Plasmon-enhanced luminescence of Eu complex by using silver nanocubes for different excitations

The significant enhancement of luminescence of the europium (Eu) complex Eu(TTFA)₃ owing to the local surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) of the silver nanocubes was observed. The excitation and emission enhancements were both presented. The excitation enhancement mainly came from the balance of two aspects. Besides the spectra overlap between the LSPR spectrum and the excitation bands of Eu ions, the intrinsic intensity of the excitation of the Eu ions in absence of nanocubes also played an important role. The emission enhancement, which was the relative change in the radiative decay rate, non-radiative decay rate and quantum efficiency, of the Eu ions at 612 nm came from the change of the photonic mode density (PMD) and was concerned with concentrations of the nanocubes as well as the excitation wavelengths.