Fractal silver structures for metal-enhanced fluorescence: Applications for ultra-bright surface assays and lab-on-a-chip-based nanotechnologies

The metal-enhanced fluorescence emission from silver fractal-like structures was studied. The structure were coated with a monolayer of fluorophore-protein. Two fluoroscent probes, indocyanine green (ICG) and fluorescein (FITC), were used to label the human serum albumin (HSA) protein. Remarkable increases in the fluorescence intensities were observed on the glass-silver fractal substrate and the roughened silver electrodes. The potential applications of the photostable fractal silver structure with enhanced fluorescence for ultra-bright surface assays and lab-on-a-chip nanotechnologies were also presented.