TY - JOUR A1 - Hirsch, A. A1 - Lohmann, S.-H. A1 - Strelow, C. A1 - Kipp, T. A1 - Würth, Christian A1 - Geißler, Daniel A1 - Komoski, A. A1 - Wolter, C. A1 - Weller, H. A1 - Resch-Genger, Ute A1 - Mews, A. T1 - Fluorescence Quantum Yield and Single-Particle Emission of CdSe N2 - The fluorescence quantum yield (QY) of CdSe dot/CdS rod (DR) nanoparticle ensembles is dependent on the Shell growth and excitation wavelength. We analyze the origin of this dependency by comparing the optical properties of DR ensembles to the results obtained in single-particle experiments. On the Ensemble level, we find that the QY of DRs with shell lengths shorter than 40 nm exhibits no dependence on the excitation wavelength, whereas for DRs with shell lengths longer than 50 nm, the QY significantly decreases for excitation above the CdS band gap. Upon excitation in the CdSe core, the ensemble QY, the fluorescence wavelength, and the fluorescence blinking behavior of individual particles are only dependent on the radial CdS shell thickness and not on the CDs shell length. If the photogenerated excitons can reach the CdSe core region, the fluorescence properties will be dependent only on the surface passivation in close vicinity to the CdSe core. The change in QY upon excitation above the band gap of CdS for longer DRs cannot be explained by nonradiative particles because the ratio of emitting DRs is found to be independent of the DR length. We propose a model after which the decrease in QY for longer CdS shells is due to an increasing fraction of nonradiative exciton recombination within the elongated shell. This is supported by an effective-mass-approximation-based calculation, which suggests an optimum length of DRs of about 40 nm, to combine the benefit of high CdS absorption cross section with a high fluorescence QY. KW - Fluorescence KW - Quantum dot KW - Photophysics KW - Single particle spectroscopy KW - Mechanism KW - Theory KW - Ensemble measurements KW - Quantum yield KW - CdSe KW - CdS shell PY - 2019 DO - https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpcc.9b07957 VL - 123 IS - 39 SP - 24338 EP - 24346 PB - ACS Publications AN - OPUS4-49556 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Hennig, Andreas A1 - Borcherding, H. A1 - Jäger, Christian A1 - Hatami, Soheil A1 - Würth, Christian A1 - Hoffmann, Angelika A1 - Hoffmann, Katrin A1 - Thiele, T. A1 - Schedler, U. A1 - Resch-Genger, Ute T1 - Scope and limitations of surface functional quantification methods: exploratory study with poly(acrylic acid)-grafted micro- and nanoparticles N2 - The amount of grafted poly(acrylic acid) on poly(methyl methacrylate) micro- and nanoparticles was quantified by conductometry, 13C solid-state NMR, fluorophore labeling, a supramolecular assay based on high-affinity binding of cucurbit[7]uril, and two colorimetric assays based on toluidine blue and nickel complexation by pyrocatechol violet. The methods were thoroughly validated and compared with respect to reproducibility, sensitivity, and ease of use. The results demonstrate that only a small but constant fraction of the surface functional groups is accessible to covalent surface derivatization independently of the total number of surface functional groups, and different contributing factors are discussed that determine the number of probe molecules which can be bound to the polymer surface. The fluorophore labeling approach was modified to exclude artifacts due to fluorescence quenching, but absolute quantum yield measurements still indicate a major uncertainty in routine fluorescence-based surface group quantifications, which is directly relevant for biochemical assays and medical diagnostics. Comparison with results from protein labeling with streptavidin suggests a porous network of poly(acrylic acid) chains on the particle surface, which allows diffusion of small molecules (cutoff between 1.6 and 6.5 nm) into the network. KW - Polymers KW - Surface groups KW - Quantification KW - Fluorescence PY - 2012 DO - https://doi.org/10.1021/ja302649g SN - 0002-7863 SN - 1520-5126 VL - 134 IS - 19 SP - 8268 EP - 8276 PB - American Chemical Society CY - Washington, DC AN - OPUS4-26002 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -