Interference-enhanced infrared-to-visible upconversion in solid-state thin films sensitized by colloidal nanocrystals

Wu, Mengfei; Jean, Joel; Bulović, Vladimir; Baldo, Marc A.

doi:10.1063/1.4984136

Interference-enhanced infrared-to-visible upconversion in solid-state thin films sensitized by colloidal nanocrystals

Journal Article · Mon May 22 00:00:00 EDT 2017 · Applied Physics Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4984136· OSTI ID:1466223

^[1]; ^[2]; Bulović, Vladimir ^[2]; Baldo, Marc A. ^[2]

Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States). Energy Frontier Research Center for Excitonics; Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States). Energy Frontier Research Center for Excitonics

Infrared-to-visible photon upconversion has potential applications in photovoltaics, sensing, and bioimaging. In this paper, we demonstrate a solid-state thin-film device that utilizes sensitized triplet-triplet exciton annihilation, converting infrared photons absorbed by colloidal lead sulfide nanocrystals (NCs) into visible photons emitted from a luminescent dopant in rubrene at low incident light intensities. A typical bilayer device consisting of a monolayer of NCs and a doped film of rubrene is limited by low infrared absorption in the thin NC film. Here, we augment the bilayer with an optical spacer layer and a silver-film back reflector, resulting in interference effects that enhance the optical field and thus the absorption in the NC film. The interference-enhanced device shows an order-of-magnitude increase in the upconverted emission at the wavelength of λ = 610 nm when excited at λ = 980 nm. Finally, at incident light intensities above 1.1 W/cm², the device attains maximum efficiency, converting (1.6 ± 0.2)% of absorbed infrared photons into higher-energy singlet excitons in rubrene.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRC) (United States). Center for Excitonics (CE); Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE; USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES) (SC-22)

Grant/Contract Number:: SC0001088

OSTI ID:: 1466223

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1361912

Journal Information:: Applied Physics Letters, Journal Name: Applied Physics Letters Journal Issue: 21 Vol. 110; ISSN 0003-6951

Publisher:: American Institute of Physics (AIP)Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

References (20)

Photon upconversion based on sensitized triplet–triplet annihilation Singh-Rachford, Tanya N.; Castellano, Felix N. Coordination Chemistry Reviews, Vol. 254, Issue 21-22 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ccr.2010.01.003	journal	November 2010
Efficiency enhancement of solar cells by luminescent up-conversion of sunlight Trupke, T.; Shalav, A.; Richards, B. S. Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells, Vol. 90, Issue 18-19 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solmat.2005.09.021	journal	November 2006
Hybrid Molecule–Nanocrystal Photon Upconversion Across the Visible and Near-Infrared Huang, Zhiyuan; Li, Xin; Mahboub, Melika Nano Letters, Vol. 15, Issue 8 https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.nanolett.5b02130	journal	July 2015
Efficient Infrared-to-Visible Upconversion with Subsolar Irradiance Mahboub, Melika; Huang, Zhiyuan; Tang, Ming Lee Nano Letters, Vol. 16, Issue 11 https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.nanolett.6b03503	journal	October 2016
Upconversion and Anti-Stokes Processes with f and d Ions in Solids Auzel, François Chemical Reviews, Vol. 104, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1021/cr020357g	journal	January 2004
Upconversion Luminescent Materials: Advances and Applications Zhou, Jing; Liu, Qian; Feng, Wei Chemical Reviews, Vol. 115, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1021/cr400478f	journal	November 2014
Getting to the (Square) Root of the Problem: How to Make Noncoherent Pumped Upconversion Linear Haefele, Alexandre; Blumhoff, Jörg; Khnayzer, Rony S. The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters, Vol. 3, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1021/jz300012u	journal	January 2012
Subdiffusive Exciton Transport in Quantum Dot Solids Akselrod, Gleb M.; Prins, Ferry; Poulikakos, Lisa V. Nano Letters, Vol. 14, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1021/nl501190s	journal	May 2014
Size-Dependent Optical Properties of Colloidal PbS Quantum Dots Moreels, Iwan; Lambert, Karel; Smeets, Dries ACS Nano, Vol. 3, Issue 10 https://doi.org/10.1021/nn900863a	journal	September 2009
Solid-state infrared-to-visible upconversion sensitized by colloidal nanocrystals Wu, Mengfei; Congreve, Daniel N.; Wilson, Mark W. B. Nature Photonics, Vol. 10, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1038/nphoton.2015.226	journal	November 2015
Room temperature triplet state spectroscopy of organic semiconductors Reineke, Sebastian; Baldo, Marc A. Scientific Reports, Vol. 4, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1038/srep03797	journal	January 2014
Photochemical upconversion: present status and prospects for its application to solar energy conversion Schulze, Tim F.; Schmidt, Timothy W. Energy & Environmental Science, Vol. 8, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1039/C4EE02481H	journal	January 2015
Taking advantage of luminescent lanthanide ions Bünzli, Jean-Claude G.; Piguet, Claude Chemical Society Reviews, Vol. 34, Issue 12 https://doi.org/10.1039/b406082m	journal	January 2005
Absolute quantum yield measurements of colloidal NaYF4: Er3+, Yb3+ upconverting nanoparticles Boyer, John-Christopher; van Veggel, Frank C. J. M. Nanoscale, Vol. 2, Issue 8 https://doi.org/10.1039/c0nr00253d	journal	January 2010
Small molecular weight organic thin-film photodetectors and solar cells Peumans, Peter; Yakimov, Aharon; Forrest, Stephen R. Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 93, Issue 7, p. 3693-3723 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.1534621	journal	April 2003
Relationship between electroluminescence and current transport in organic heterojunction light‐emitting devices Burrows, P. E.; Shen, Z.; Bulovic, V. Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 79, Issue 10 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.362350	journal	May 1996
Modeling photocurrent action spectra of photovoltaic devices based on organic thin films Pettersson, Leif A. A.; Roman, Lucimara S.; Inganäs, Olle Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 86, Issue 1, p. 487-496 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.370757	journal	July 1999
Weak microcavity effects in organic light-emitting devices Bulović, V.; Khalfin, V. B.; Gu, G. Physical Review B, Vol. 58, Issue 7 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.58.3730	journal	August 1998
Upconversion-pumped luminescence efficiency of rare-earth-doped hosts sensitized with trivalent ytterbium Page, Ralph H.; Schaffers, Kathleen I.; Waide, Phillip A. Journal of the Optical Society of America B, Vol. 15, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1364/JOSAB.15.000996	journal	January 1998
Critically coupled resonators in vertical geometry using a planar mirror and a 5 nm thick absorbing film Tischler, Jonathan R.; Bradley, M. Scott; Bulović, Vladimir Optics Letters, Vol. 31, Issue 13 https://doi.org/10.1364/OL.31.002045	journal	January 2006

Cited By (6)

Future and challenges for hybrid upconversion nanosystems Wen, Shihui; Zhou, Jiajia; Schuck, P. James Nature Photonics, Vol. 13, Issue 12 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41566-019-0528-x	journal	October 2019
Using lead chalcogenide nanocrystals as spin mixers: a perspective on near-infrared-to-visible upconversion Nienhaus, Lea; Wu, Mengfei; Bulović, Vladimir Dalton Transactions, Vol. 47, Issue 26 https://doi.org/10.1039/c8dt00419f	journal	January 2018
Device model for pixelless infrared image up-converters based on polycrystalline graphene heterostructures Ryzhii, V.; Shur, M. S.; Ryzhii, M. Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 123, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5011712	journal	January 2018
High-performance all-solution-processed quantum dot near-infrared-to-visible upconversion devices for harvesting photogenerated electrons Zhang, Nan; Tang, Haodong; Shi, Kanming Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 115, Issue 22 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5124735	journal	November 2019
A perspective on triplet fusion upconversion: triplet sensitizers beyond quantum dots VanOrman, Zachary A.; Bieber, Alexander S.; Wieghold, Sarah MRS Communications, Vol. 9, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1557/mrc.2019.115	journal	September 2019
Device model for pixelless infrared image up-converters based on polycrystalline graphene heterostructures Ryzhii, V.; Shur, M. S.; Ryzhii, M. arXiv https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.1710.09060	text	January 2017

Similar Records

Solid-state infrared-to-visible upconversion sensitized by colloidal nanocrystals

Journal Article · Sun Nov 22 23:00:00 EST 2015 · Nature Photonics · OSTI ID:1387500

Using lead chalcogenide nanocrystals as spin mixers: a perspective on near-infrared-to-visible upconversion

Journal Article · Sun Dec 31 23:00:00 EST 2017 · Dalton Transactions · OSTI ID:1470242

Related Subjects

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS
II-VI semiconductors
colloidal systems
doping
excitons
monolayers
nanocrystals
photoluminescence
photons
silver
thin film devices

Interference-enhanced infrared-to-visible upconversion in solid-state thin films sensitized by colloidal nanocrystals

Citation Formats

References (20)

Cited By (6)

Similar Records

Related Subjects