Origin and control of blinking in quantum dots

Efros, Alexander L.; Nesbitt, David J.

doi:10.1038/nnano.2016.140

Origin and control of blinking in quantum dots

Journal Article · Wed Aug 03 04:00:00 EDT 2016 · Nature Nanotechnology

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/nnano.2016.140· OSTI ID:1924547

Efros, Alexander L. ^[1]; Nesbitt, David J. ^[2]

Naval Research Lab., Washington, DC (United States); JILA/Department of Chemistry
Univ. of Colorado, Boulder, CO (United States); National Inst. of Standards and Technology (NIST), Boulder, CO (United States)

Semiconductor nanocrystals offer an enormous diversity of potential device applications, based on their size-tunable photoluminescence, high optical stability and ‘bottom-up’ chemical approaches to self-assembly. However, the promise of such applications can be seriously limited by photoluminescence intermittency in nanocrystal emission, that is, ‘blinking’, arising from the escape of either one or both of the photoexcited carriers to the nanocrystal surface. In the first scenario, the remaining nanocrystal charge quenches photoluminescence via non-radiative Auger recombination, whereas for the other, the exciton is thought to be intercepted before thermalization and does not contribute to the photoluminescence. Furthermore, this Review summarizes the current understanding of the mechanisms responsible for nanocrystal blinking kinetics as well as core–shell engineering efforts to control such phenomena. In particular, ‘softening’ of the core–shell confinement potential strongly suppresses nonradiative Auger processes in charged nanocrystals, with successful non-blinking implementations demonstrated in CdSe–CdS core–thick-shell nanocrystals and their modifications.

Research Organization:: Univ. of Colorado, Boulder, CO (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE; National Science Foundation (NSF)

DOE Contract Number:: SC0002123; SC0002123

OSTI ID:: 1924547

Journal Information:: Nature Nanotechnology, Journal Name: Nature Nanotechnology Journal Issue: 8 Vol. 11; ISSN 1748-3387

Publisher:: Nature Publishing Group

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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