Abstract
Two-color emitting colloidal semiconductor nanocrystals (NCs) are of interest for applications in multimodal imaging, sensing, lighting, and integrated photonics. Dual color emission from core- and shell-related optical transitions has been recently obtained using so-called dot-in-bulk (DiB) CdSe/CdS NCs comprising a quantum-confined CdSe core embedded into an ultrathick (∼7-9 nm) CdS shell. The physical mechanism underlying this behavior is still under debate. While a large shell volume appears to be a necessary condition for dual emission, comparison between various types of thick-shell CdSe/CdS NCs indicates a critical role of the interface "sharpness" and the presence of potential barriers. To elucidate the effect of the interface morphology on the dual emission, we perform side-by-side studies of CdSe/CdS DiB-NCs with nominally identical core and shell dimensions but different structural properties of the core/shell interface arising from the crystal structure of the starting CdSe cores (zincblende vs wurtzite). While both structures exhibit dual emission under comparable pump intensities, NCs with a zincblende core show a faster growth of shell luminescence with excitation fluence and a more readily realized regime of amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) even under "slow" nanosecond excitation. These distinctions can be linked to the structure of the core/shell interface: NCs grown from the zincblende cores contain a ∼3.5 nm thick zincblende CdS interlayer, which separates the core from the wurtzite CdS shell and creates a potential barrier for photoexcited shell holes inhibiting their relaxation into the core. This helps maintain a higher population of shell states and simplifies the realization of dual emission and ASE involving shell-based optical transitions.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 6877-6887 |
| Number of pages | 11 |
| Journal | ACS Nano |
| Volume | 10 |
| Issue number | 7 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Jul 26 2016 |
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Keywords
- amplified spontaneous emission
- core/shell heterostructures
- dual emission
- exciton dynamics
- interface structure
- nanocrystal quantum dots
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Engineering(all)
- Materials Science(all)
- Physics and Astronomy(all)
Cite this
Effect of Core/Shell Interface on Carrier Dynamics and Optical Gain Properties of Dual-Color Emitting CdSe/CdS Nanocrystals. / Pinchetti, Valerio; Meinardi, Francesco; Camellini, Andrea; Sirigu, Gianluca; Christodoulou, Sotirios; Bae, Wan Ki; De Donato, Francesco; Manna, Liberato; Zavelani-Rossi, Margherita; Moreels, Iwan; Klimov, Victor I; Brovelli, Sergio.
In: ACS Nano, Vol. 10, No. 7, 26.07.2016, p. 6877-6887.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Effect of Core/Shell Interface on Carrier Dynamics and Optical Gain Properties of Dual-Color Emitting CdSe/CdS Nanocrystals
AU - Pinchetti, Valerio
AU - Meinardi, Francesco
AU - Camellini, Andrea
AU - Sirigu, Gianluca
AU - Christodoulou, Sotirios
AU - Bae, Wan Ki
AU - De Donato, Francesco
AU - Manna, Liberato
AU - Zavelani-Rossi, Margherita
AU - Moreels, Iwan
AU - Klimov, Victor I
AU - Brovelli, Sergio
PY - 2016/7/26
Y1 - 2016/7/26
N2 - Two-color emitting colloidal semiconductor nanocrystals (NCs) are of interest for applications in multimodal imaging, sensing, lighting, and integrated photonics. Dual color emission from core- and shell-related optical transitions has been recently obtained using so-called dot-in-bulk (DiB) CdSe/CdS NCs comprising a quantum-confined CdSe core embedded into an ultrathick (∼7-9 nm) CdS shell. The physical mechanism underlying this behavior is still under debate. While a large shell volume appears to be a necessary condition for dual emission, comparison between various types of thick-shell CdSe/CdS NCs indicates a critical role of the interface "sharpness" and the presence of potential barriers. To elucidate the effect of the interface morphology on the dual emission, we perform side-by-side studies of CdSe/CdS DiB-NCs with nominally identical core and shell dimensions but different structural properties of the core/shell interface arising from the crystal structure of the starting CdSe cores (zincblende vs wurtzite). While both structures exhibit dual emission under comparable pump intensities, NCs with a zincblende core show a faster growth of shell luminescence with excitation fluence and a more readily realized regime of amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) even under "slow" nanosecond excitation. These distinctions can be linked to the structure of the core/shell interface: NCs grown from the zincblende cores contain a ∼3.5 nm thick zincblende CdS interlayer, which separates the core from the wurtzite CdS shell and creates a potential barrier for photoexcited shell holes inhibiting their relaxation into the core. This helps maintain a higher population of shell states and simplifies the realization of dual emission and ASE involving shell-based optical transitions.
AB - Two-color emitting colloidal semiconductor nanocrystals (NCs) are of interest for applications in multimodal imaging, sensing, lighting, and integrated photonics. Dual color emission from core- and shell-related optical transitions has been recently obtained using so-called dot-in-bulk (DiB) CdSe/CdS NCs comprising a quantum-confined CdSe core embedded into an ultrathick (∼7-9 nm) CdS shell. The physical mechanism underlying this behavior is still under debate. While a large shell volume appears to be a necessary condition for dual emission, comparison between various types of thick-shell CdSe/CdS NCs indicates a critical role of the interface "sharpness" and the presence of potential barriers. To elucidate the effect of the interface morphology on the dual emission, we perform side-by-side studies of CdSe/CdS DiB-NCs with nominally identical core and shell dimensions but different structural properties of the core/shell interface arising from the crystal structure of the starting CdSe cores (zincblende vs wurtzite). While both structures exhibit dual emission under comparable pump intensities, NCs with a zincblende core show a faster growth of shell luminescence with excitation fluence and a more readily realized regime of amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) even under "slow" nanosecond excitation. These distinctions can be linked to the structure of the core/shell interface: NCs grown from the zincblende cores contain a ∼3.5 nm thick zincblende CdS interlayer, which separates the core from the wurtzite CdS shell and creates a potential barrier for photoexcited shell holes inhibiting their relaxation into the core. This helps maintain a higher population of shell states and simplifies the realization of dual emission and ASE involving shell-based optical transitions.
KW - amplified spontaneous emission
KW - core/shell heterostructures
KW - dual emission
KW - exciton dynamics
KW - interface structure
KW - nanocrystal quantum dots
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84979982386&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84979982386&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1021/acsnano.6b02635
DO - 10.1021/acsnano.6b02635
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84979982386
VL - 10
SP - 6877
EP - 6887
JO - ACS Nano
JF - ACS Nano
SN - 1936-0851
IS - 7
ER -