title: Surface plasmon inhibited photo-luminescence activation in CdSe/ZnS core-shell quantum dots.
abstract: In a composite film of Cd x  Se y  Zn1-x  S1-y gradient core-shell quantum dots (QDs) and gold nanorods (NRs), the optical properties of the QDs are drastically affected by the plasmonic nanoparticles. We provide a careful study of the two-step formation of the film and its morphology. Subsequently we focus on QD luminescence photoactivation-a process induced by photochemical changes on the QD surface. We observe that even a sparse coverage of AuNRs can completely inhibit the photoactivation of the QDs' emission in the film. We demonstrate that the inhibition can be accounted for by a rapid energy transfer between QDs and AuNRs. Finally, we propose that the behavior of emission photoactivation can be used as a signature to distinguish between energy and electron transfer in the QD-based materials.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Physics, Chemical Center, Lund University, PO Box 124, 22100 Lund, Sweden. State Key Laboratory of Molecular Reaction Dynamics, Dalian, Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences Dalian, 116023, Dalian People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Junsheng
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Karel
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Žídek
authors.forename: Mohamed
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Abdellah
authors.forename: Mohammed J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Al-Marri
authors.forename: Kaibo
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.forename: Tõnu
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Pullerits