Investigating the effect of Zn doping and temperature on the photoluminescence behaviour of CuLaSe2 quantum dots.

In this study, CuLaSe2 and ZnCuLaSe2 quantum dots (QDs) with a mean size of ~4 nm were synthesized and characterized, and their temperature-dependent photoluminescence (PL) properties were studied in the temperature range from 90 to 300 K for the first time. The results show that the obtained QDs were spherical and revealed excitonic band gaps. The PL intensity for both types of materials decreased when increasing the temperature to 300 K, which was attributed to the nonradiative relaxation and thermal escape mechanisms. As the temperature was increased, the PL linewidths broadened, and PL peak energies were red shifted for both types of QDs due to the exciton-phonon coupling and lattice deformation potential mechanisms. In addition, we found that as the temperature was decreased, the PL spectrum of ZnCuLaSe2 QDs contained two extra components, which could be attributed to the shallow defect sites (low energy peak) and the crystal phase transition process (high energy peak). The spectrum of CuLaSe2 QDs contained one extra component, which could be attributed to the crystal phase transition process.

Ultrafast exciton dynamics in InAs/ZnSe nanocrystal quantum dots.

Colloidal nanocrystal quantum dots with a band gap in the near infra-red have potential application as the emitters for telecommunications or in vivo imaging, or as the photo-absorbing species in next generation solar cells or photodetectors. However, electro- and photoluminescence yields and the efficiency with which photo-generated charges can be extracted from quantum dots depend on the total rate of recombination, which can be dominated by surface-mediated processes. In this study, we use ultrafast transient absorption spectroscopy to characterise the recombination dynamics of photo-generated charges in InAs/ZnSe nanocrystal quantum dots. We find that recombination is dominated by rapid, sub-nanosecond transfer of conduction band electrons to surface states. For the size of dots studied, we also find no evidence of significant multiple exciton generation for photon energies up to 3.2 times the band gap, in agreement with our theoretical modelling.