Tailoring light emission properties of organic emitter by coupling to resonance-tuned silver nanoantenna arrays

A convenient nanotechnique is reported to tailor the light emission properties of organic emitter poly[2-methoxy-5-(2′-ethyl-hexyloxy)-p-phenylene vinylene] (MEH-PPV) by coupling to resonance-tuned silver nanoantenna arrays. It is revealed experimentally and theoretically that the enhanced photoluminescence from the MEH-PPV/silver nanoantenna complex may originate from the energy transfer effect in the surface plasmon resonance coupling between the MEH-PPV and silver nanocaps and from local electromagnetic field enhancement of nanogaps between the silver nanocaps in the background of the light-emitting MEH-PPV. The results are corroborated by the finite difference time domain simulation results.