Thermodynamic Investigation of Increased Luminescence in Indium Phosphide Quantum Dots by Treatment with Metal Halide Salts.

Increasing the quantum yields of InP quantum dots is important for their applications, particularly for use in consumer displays. While several methods exist to improve quantum yield, the addition of inorganic metal halide salts has proven promising. To further investigate this phenomenon, InP quantum dots dispersed in tetrahydrofuran were titrated with ZnCl, ZnBr, and InCl.

Redefining near-unity luminescence in quantum dots with photothermal threshold quantum yield.

A variety of optical applications rely on the absorption and reemission of light. The quantum yield of this process often plays an essential role. When the quantum yield deviates from unity by significantly less than 1%, applications such as luminescent concentrators and optical refrigerators become possible.

Broadband Sensitization of Lanthanide Emission with Indium Phosphide Quantum Dots for Visible to Near-Infrared Downshifting.

Semiconductor quantum dot (QD)-sensitized lanthanide ions hold great promise in producing a broadly absorbing and sharply emitting luminophore, but their synthesis has proven to be difficult. We report the first synthesis of core/shell/shell InP/Ln YF/ShF (Ln = Yb, Nd; Sh = Lu, Y) nanocrystals that exhibit a broad visible absorption coupled to a sharp near-infrared emission. Additionally, this is the first report of Nd being coupled to a QD absorber.

The Making and Breaking of Lead-Free Double Perovskite Nanocrystals of Cesium Silver-Bismuth Halide Compositions.

Replacing lead in halide perovskites is of great interest due to concerns about stability and toxicity. Recently, lead free double perovskites in which the unit cell is doubled and two divalent lead cations are substituted by a combination of mono- and trivalent cations have been synthesized as bulk single crystals and as thin films. Here, we study stability and optical properties of all-inorganic cesium silver(I) bismuth(III) chloride and bromide nanocrystals with the double perovskite crystal structure.

Controlled Isotropic and Anisotropic Shell Growth in β-NaLnF Nanocrystals Induced by Precursor Injection Rate.

Precise morphology and composition control is vital for designing multifunctional lanthanide-doped core/shell nanocrystals. Herein, we report controlled isotropic and anisotropic shell growth techniques in hexagonal sodium rare-earth tetrafluoride (β-NaLnF) nanocrystals by exploiting the kinetics of the shell growth. A drastic change of the shell morphology was observed by changing the injection rate of the shell precursors while keeping all other reaction conditions constant.

Essentially Trap-Free CsPbBr Colloidal Nanocrystals by Postsynthetic Thiocyanate Surface Treatment.

We demonstrate postsynthetic modification of CsPbBr nanocrystals by a thiocyanate salt treatment. This treatment improves the quantum yield of both freshly synthesized (PLQY ≈ 90%) and aged nanocrystals (PLQY ≈ 70%) to within measurement error (2-3%) of unity, while simultaneously maintaining the shape, size, and colloidal stability. Additionally, the luminescence decay kinetics transform from multiexponential decays typical of nanocrystalline semiconductors with a distribution of trap sites, to a monoexponential decay, typical of single energy level emitters.

Characterizing Photon Reabsorption in Quantum Dot-Polymer Composites for Use as Displacement Sensors.

The reabsorption of photoluminescence within a medium, an effect known as the inner filter effect (IFE), has been well studied in solutions, but has garnered less attention in regards to solid-state nanocomposites. Photoluminescence from a quantum dot (QD) can selectively excite larger QDs around it resulting in a net red-shift in the reemitted photon. In CdSe/CdS core/shell QD-polymer nanocomposites, we observe a large spectral red-shift of over a third of the line width of the photoluminescence of the nanocomposites over a distance of 100 μm resulting from the IFE.

Precise Tuning of Surface Quenching for Luminescence Enhancement in Core-Shell Lanthanide-Doped Nanocrystals.

Lanthanide-doped nanocrystals are of particular interest for the research community not only due to their ability to shape light by downshifting, quantum cutting, and upconversion but also because novel optical properties can be found by the precise engineering of core-shell nanocrystals. Because of the large surface area-to-volume ratio of nanocrystals, the luminescence is typically suppressed by surface quenching. Here, we demonstrate a mechanism that exploits surface quenching processes to improve the luminescence of our core-shell lanthanide-doped nanocrystals.