Photoluminescence enhancement in CdSe/ZnS-DNA linked-Au nanoparticle heterodimers probed by single molecule spectroscopy

Photoluminescence enhancement of up to 20 fold is demonstrated at the single molecule level for heterodimers composed of a core/shell CdSe/ZnS semiconductive quantum dot and a gold nanoparticle of 60 nm size separated by a 32 nm-long dsDNA linker when employing optical excitation at wavelengths near the surface plasmon resonance of the gold nanoparticle.