Tuning the fast generation of luminescent silver nanodots on a surface.

Silver nanodots, predominantly a near-IR emitter, can be instantly generated on a surface by silver cluster transfer. Kinetic trapping of ssDNA molecules on the surface limits the reorganization of the resulting silver nanodots for other silver nanodot emitters. Adjusting the freedom of the adsorbed ssDNA can tune the generation of various silver nanodots on the surface.