Immunoassays based on surface-enhanced fluorescence using gap-plasmon-tunable Ag bilayer nanoparticle films.

A novel gap-plasmon-tunable Ag bilayer nanoparticle film for immunoassays is demonstrated. Different from a traditional Ag monolayer nanoparticle film, a desired number of polyelectrolyte (PEL) layers are deposited on the nanoparticles before the self-assembly of a second Ag nanoparticle layer. Interestingly, by controlling the number of the PEL interlayers, the gap plasmon between the two Ag nanoparticle layers can be tuned across the visible spectral range. The ability of the presented Ag bilayer nanoparticle films in fluorescence enhancement has been examined experimentally. A maximal enhancement of around 15.4 fold was achieved when 7 layers of polyelectrolyte were used. When this optimal Ag bilayer nanoparticle film was applied to fluorescence immunoassay, a performance with approximately 3.3-fold enhancement was obtained compared with that performed on a traditional glass substrate. The experimental results suggest that the presented gap-plasmon tunable Ag bilayer nanoparticle films have great potential in fluorescence-based immunoassays. The method of the bilayer-film construction presented here also provides new insights into the rational design of the plasmonic substrates.