Silver nanoclusters emitting weak NIR fluorescence biomineralized by BSA

•Silver nanoclusters emitting weak NIR fluorescence were biomineralized by BSA.•The synthesized silver nanoclusters might be confined in BSA molecules.•These silver nanoclusters showed upconversion emission property.•Silver nanoclusters might enhance and broaden protein photoabsorption.•The protein absorption peak showed an obvious red shift.

Noble metal (e.g., gold and silver) nanomaterials possess unique physical and chemical properties. In present work, silver nanoclusters (also known as silver quantum clusters or silver quantum dots) were synthesized by bovine serum albumin (BSA) biomineralization. The synthesized silver nanoclusters were characterized by UV-VIS absorption spectroscopy, fluorescence spectroscopy, upconversion emission spectroscopy, TEM, HRTEM and FTIR spectroscopy. TEM results showed that the average size of the silver nanoclusters was 2.23 nm. Fluorescence results showed that these silver nanoclusters could emit weak near-infrared (NIR) fluorescence (the central emission wavelength being about 765 nm). And the central excitation wavelength was about 395 nm, in the UV spectral region. These silver nanoclusters showed an extraordinarily large gap (about 370 nm) between the central excitation wavelength and central emission wavelength. In addition, it was found that these silver nanoclusters possess upconversion emission property. Upconversion emission results showed that the upconversion emission spectrum of the silver nanoclusters agreed well with their normal fluorescence emission spectrum. The synthesized silver nanoclusters showed high stability in aqueous solution and it was considered that they might be confined in BSA molecules. It was found that silver nanoclusters might enhance and broaden the absorption of proteins, and the protein absorption peak showed an obvious red shift (being 7 nm) after the formation of silver nanoclusters.

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