Photophysics and dynamics of dye-doped conjugated polymer nanoparticles by time-resolved and fluorescence correlation spectroscopy

Abstract

Fluorescent dye encapsulated conjugated polymer nanoparticles have been paid significant attention for potential applications in photonics and biophotonics due to their high brightness and better photostability. Bright, photostable, and monodispersed Nile Red (NR) dye encapsulated poly-N-vinylcarbazole (PVK) fluorescent polymer nanoparticles have been prepared to understand the influence of size of particles and the concentration of dye inside the particles on the photophysical properties by using steady-state, time-resolved fluorescence spectroscopy and fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS). Here, we have quantitatively analyzed the hydrodynamic diameter, particle brightness, and population of NR molecules inside the particle with varying the particle size and NR concentration by using fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS). The average fluorescence intensity of a single nanoparticle, i.e., per particle brightness (PPB) value, increases from 80 to 500 kHz, and the number of NR molecules per nanoparticle increases from 5 to 22 by increasing the concentration of NR from 0.5 to 1.8 wt % at the time of nanoparticle preparation. Fluorescence anisotropy study has been undertaken to understand the rotational dynamics of encapsulated NR molecules with varying particle size and NR concentration inside the nanoparticle. The particle brightness and quantum yield are enhanced due to increasing the radiative decay rate. Higher brightness (almost one order of magnitude higher with respect to free dye) and better photostability (15-fold enhancement) of these polymer nanoparticles are found to be efficient for bioimaging purposes.