Surface plasmon induced photoluminescence enhancement in the Au–ZnS nanocomposite

• We prepared a novel Au–ZnS nanocomposite by simple homogeneous precipitation.
• The photoluminescence intensity of this novel architecture was increased by 38.5%.
• The enhancement is influenced by the size and concentration of Au and surfactant.
• Local surface plasmon resonance may be the key reason for this enhancement.

In this study, we prepared a novel Au–ZnS nanocomposite by simple homogeneous precipitation at room temperature. It is found that the defect emission (around 490 nm) from ZnS is dramatically tailored by the presence of Au nanoparticles. Specifically, the photoluminescent performance of this structure is strongly influenced by the size and concentration of Au cores and the surfactant. When the Au core is 12 nm and the mass fraction of Au is 0.050%, an enhancement of up to 38.5% in the photoluminescent intensity was observed. This enhancement is attributed to energy transfer from ZnS to Au followed by a large local electromagnetic field on or near the surface of the Au nanoparticles.

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