DNA-mediated excitonic upconversion FRET switching

Journal Article · Tue Nov 17 00:00:00 EST 2015 · New Journal of Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630/17/11/115007· OSTI ID:1241131

Kellis, Donald L. ^[1]; Rehn, Sarah M. ^[2]; Cannon, Brittany L. ^[1]; Davis, Paul H. ^[1]; Graugnard, Elton ^[1]; Lee, Jeunghoon ^[3]; Yurke, Bernard ^[4]; Knowlton, William B. ^[4]

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1. Boise State Univ., ID (United States). Department of Materials Science and Engineering
2. Boise State Univ., ID (United States). Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
3. Boise State Univ., ID (United States). Department of Materials Science and Engineering; Boise State Univ., ID (United States). Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
4. Boise State Univ., ID (United States). Department of Materials Science and Engineering; Boise State Univ., ID (United States). Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Excitonics is a rapidly expanding field of nanophotonics in which the harvesting of photons, ensuing creation and transport of excitons via Förster resonant energy transfer (FRET), and subsequent charge separation or photon emission has led to the demonstration of excitonic wires, switches, Boolean logic and light harvesting antennas for many applications. FRET funnels excitons down an energy gradient resulting in energy loss with each step along the pathway. Conversely, excitonic energy up conversion via up conversion nanoparticles (UCNPs), although currently inefficient, serves as an energy ratchet to boost the exciton energy. Although FRET-based up conversion has been demonstrated, it suffers from low FRET efficiency and lacks the ability to modulate the FRET. We have engineered an up conversion FRET-based switch by combining lanthanide-doped UCNPs and fluorophores that demonstrates excitonic energy up conversion by nearly a factor of 2, an excited state donor to acceptor FRET efficiency of nearly 25%, and an acceptor fluorophore quantum efficiency that is close to unity. These findings offer a promising path for energy up conversion in nanophotonic applications including artificial light harvesting, excitonic circuits, photovoltaics, nanomedicine, and optoelectronics.

• Research Organization: Boise State Univ., ID (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
• Grant/Contract Number: AC02-05CH11231
• OSTI ID: 1241131
• Journal Information: New Journal of Physics, Vol. 17, Issue 11; ISSN 1367-2630
• Publisher: IOP Publishing
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY
upconverting nanoparticles
FRET
DNAnanotechnology
excitonics
strand displacement
excitonic switch