Surface plasmon enhanced energy transfer in metal-semiconductor hybrid nanostructures.

We report a type of hybrid nanostructures composed of ZnO nanoparticles, CdSe/ZnS core/shell quantum dots (QDs), and Ag nanoprisms. With ultraviolet light illumination, the energy absorbed by ZnO nanoparticles was transferred to the CdSe/ZnS core/shell QDs inducing a photoluminescence (PL) emission. To enhance the PL emission, Ag nanoprisms were doped in the ZnO nanoparticles and the QDs. Enhanced energy transfer from the ZnO nanoparticles to the QDs via the surface plasmon effect of the Ag nanoprisms was also demonstrated. The PL emission dependence was investigated as a function of the doped Ag nanoprism concentration and a 7.4 times PL enhancement was obtained at an Ag nanoprism concentration of 5 × 10(-8) M.