Peptide-templated synthesis of wavelength-tunable fluorescent gold nanoparticles

Abstract

In this study, a facile strategy was developed for the synthesis of fluorescent gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) with wavelength-tunable emissions using different short-peptides as templates. Thus formed Au NPs displayed excellent characteristics such as large Stokes shift, long fluorescence lifetime and good stability. Moreover, the Au NPs emitted at 611 nm can act as sensitive and selective probes for the detection of Hg2+ with a wide range from 50 nM to 25 μM and a low detection limit of 5 nM.