title: Unraveling the exciton quenching mechanism of quantum dots on antimony-doped SnO₂ films by transient absorption and single dot fluorescence spectroscopy.
abstract: Integrating quantum dots (QDs) into modern optoelectronic devices requires an understanding of how a transparent conducting substrate affects the properties of QDs, especially their excited-state dynamics. Here, the exciton quenching dynamics of core/multishell (CdSe/CdS(3ML)ZnCdS(2ML)ZnS(2ML)) quantum dots deposited on glass, tin oxide (SnO₂), and antimony (Sb)-doped tin oxide (ATO) films are studied by transient absorption and single QD fluorescence spectroscopic methods. By comparing ensemble-averaged fluorescence decay and transient absorption kinetics, we show that, for QDs on SnO₂, the exciton is quenched by electron transfer from the QD to SnO₂. At the QD-ATO interface, much faster exciton quenching rates are observed and attributed to fast Auger recombination in charged QDs formed by Fermi level equilibration between the QD and n-doped ATO. Single QDs on SnO₂ and ATO show similar blinking dynamics with correlated fluctuations of emission intensities and lifetimes. Compared to QDs on SnO₂, QDs on ATO films show larger variation of average exciton quenching rates, which is attributed to a broad distribution of the number of charges and nature of charging sites on the QD surface.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia 30322, USA.
authors.forename: Nianhui
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Song
authors.forename: Haiming
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.forename: Zheng
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Zhuangqun
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Tianquan
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Lian