Emission Editing in Eu/Tb binary complexes based on Au@SiO2 nanorods.

The Au@SiO2 nanorods with two plasmonic resonance bands are used to enhance and tune the emission of binary lanthanide (Eu/Tb) complexes. The emissions of Tb and Eu ions are both enhanced, the maximum enhancement is over 100-fold. Meanwhile the ratio and relative intensity of the red/green bands is altered by the strong coupling between complexes and nanorods, tuning the color of emission from green to yellow under excitation of 292 nm and improving the color purity from orange to red under excitation of 360 nm. The underlying physics of the lanthanide complex-plasmonic nanorod composite system is analyzed, which deepen the understanding of the interaction between complexes and plasmon nanoparticles.