Voltage regulation of fluorescence emission of single dyes bound to gold nanoparticles.

An organic dye, SAMSA, bound to gold nanoparticles, displays random photoactivated fluorescence blinking whose rate depends on the size of the nanoparticles. We report experiments indicating that (1) the dye emission wavelength is red-shifted (10-30 nm) by applying an external low voltage (1-10 V) and that (2) the fluorescence emission of single dyes can be resonantly driven by tuning the alternating external bias frequency from 1 to 3 Hz, depending on the nanoparticle size. These properties appear highly valuable and promising for devising light emitting nanostructures.