Synthesis and characterization of colloidal quantum dot superparticles - plasmonic gold nanoshell hybrid nanostructures

Coupling an ensemble of fluorescent emitters with a plasmonic resonator opens opportunities to control their emission properties at the nanoscale. However, synthesis of such hybrid colloidal nanostructures is challenging. In this manuscript, we report the synthesis of compact assemblies of semiconductor quantum dots encapsulated into a gold nanoshell. We discuss how the synthesis parameters enable full control of the architecture of the nanostructure. Optical properties are discussed and compared to theoretical models. Coupling of the emitters to the gold layer is evidenced by an acceleration of the photoluminescence decay and results in an improvement of the photostability.