Surface energy transfer from rhodamine 6G to gold nanoparticles: A spectroscopic ruler

Here, the authors report the energy transfer from rhodamine 6G dyes to gold nanoparticles. There is a pronounced effect on the photoluminescence and a shortening of the lifetime of the dye when interacting with the Au nanoparticles. The calculated distance (d) between the donor and acceptor varies from 86.06to102.47Å with changing the concentrations of Au and dye. Analysis suggests that the energy transfer from dye to the Au nanoparticles is a surface energy transfer process and follows a 1∕d4 distance dependence.