Thermally activated photoluminescence in lead selenide colloidal quantum dots.
The thermal activation processes in PbSe colloidal quantum dots and their influence on the ground-state exciton emission are discussed. Activation of a dark exciton occurs at 1.4-7 K, assisted by an acoustic phonon coupling. Activation of a bright exciton occurs at 100-200 K, which appears as a sudden change in the photoluminescence band intensity, energy, and full width at half maximum. This activation overcomes the dark-bright-state splitting, when the activation temperature increases with the decrease of the dots' size. The dark exciton lifetime is found to be approximately 6-12 micros at 1.4 K, while the bright exciton lifetime at 300 K evaluated as 450 ns varies slightly with the change in the size of the dots. In addition, the emission quantum yield of these dots, measured at a variety of temperatures when dissolved in various solvents, reveals information about the influence of the environment on the recombination processes.
Kigel
Ariel
A
The Russell Berrie Nanotechnology Institute Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel.
Brumer
Maya
M
Maikov
Georgy I
GI
Sashchiuk
Aldona
A
Lifshitz
Efrat
E
D003102:Colloids; D007854:Lead / Q000737:chemistry*; D008027:Light; D049449:Luminescence; D046529:Microscopy, Electron, Transmission; D045663:Quantum Dots; D018036:Selenium Compounds / Q000737:chemistry*; D013056:Spectrophotometry, Ultraviolet; D013696:Temperature
D003102:Colloids; D018036:Selenium Compounds; C088065:lead selenide; D007854:Lead