Recent Progress on Spectroscopy of Lanthanide Ions Incorporated in Semiconductor Nanocrystals

Host sensitized lanthanide photoluminescence from post-synthetically modified semiconductor nanoparticles depends on reactant identity

This work investigates the photoluminescence characteristics where cadmium selenide (CdSe) and zinc sulfide (ZnS) nanoparticles are treated post-synthetically by the trivalent lanthanide cations (Ln³⁺) [Ln = Pr, Nd, Sm, Eu, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, Yb] separately to form either CdSe/Ln or ZnS/Ln nanoparticles. Host sensitized Ln³⁺ emission was found to be present only in CdSe/Eu, CdSe/Tb, ZnS/Eu, ZnS/Tb and ZnS/Yb nanoparticles. In all the cases tuning of emission of the nanoparticles has been observed, irrespective of the presence or absence of host sensitization. The elemental compositions of CdSe and ZnS nanoparticles upon post-synthetic treatment show a remarkable difference. Incorporation of lanthanides in the nanoparticles is evident with significant alteration in the anionic content, and complete cation exchange of either Cd²⁺ or Zn²⁺ by Ln³⁺ has not been detected; as evaluated from energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. Further evaluation on this comes from considering thermodynamic parameters of inter cation interaction. In cases where the host sensitized Ln³⁺ emission have been observed, luminescence lifetime measurements reveal significant protection of Ln³⁺ in the nanoparticles. Noticeable difference in photophysical properties for a given Ln³⁺ has been realized in the two hosts. The photophysical observations have been rationalized using (i) charge trapping mediated host sensitized dopant emission, (ii) autoionization of excited electrons, and (iii) environment induced photoluminescence quenching. The post-synthetic modification discussed in the present work provides an easy and less synthetically demanding room temperature based protocol to avail lanthanide incorporated (doped) semiconductor nanoparticles that can potentially use the unique emission properties of the lanthanide cations.

Incorporation of lanthanide (Eu(3+)) ions in ZnS semiconductor quantum dots with a trapped-dopant model and their photoluminescence spectroscopy study

Doping quantum dots (QDs) with lanthanide (Ln) ions is promising to modify the optical properties of QDs, but incorporating Ln(3+) ions into QD hosts remains a challenge. In this work, we adopt the trapped-dopant model for fabricating Eu-doped ZnS QDs via direct wet chemical synthesis. Sharp Eu dopant photoluminescence (PL) was observed in the PL spectra of the as-prepared Eu-doped ZnS QDs and the bands at ~590, ~618 and ~695 nm were assigned to transitions from (5)D0 to (7)F1, (7)F2 and (7)F4, respectively. Quenching of the ZnS bandgap PL and enhancement of the Eu dopant PL were observed with increasing Eu(3+) doping concentration, and also, the excitation spectra for Eu emission (618 nm) were similar to the typical excitonic features of the ZnS host. These spectroscopic results, as well as the XRD and EDS data, demonstrated that Eu(3+) ions were incorporated in the ZnS host rather than just on the surface, and the Eu dopant PL was derived from energy transfer from the QD host to Eu(3+) rather than direct excitation of Eu(3+). By surface passivation, the sharp Eu emission was well-separated from the ZnS bandgap emission, which led to a good signal-to-noise ratio for more sensitive detection.

Lanthanide sensitization in II-VI semiconductor materials: a case study with terbium(III) and europium(III) in zinc sulfide nanoparticles

This work explores the sensitization of luminescent lanthanide Tb(3+) and Eu(3+) cations by the electronic structure of zinc sulfide (ZnS) semiconductor nanoparticles. Excitation spectra collected while monitoring the lanthanide emission bands reveal that the ZnS nanoparticles act as an antenna for the sensitization of Tb(3+) and Eu(3+). The mechanism of lanthanide ion luminescence sensitization is rationalized in terms of an energy and charge transfer between trap sites and is based on a semiempirical model, proposed by Dorenbos and co-workers (Dorenbos, P. J. Phys.: Condens. Matter 2003, 15, 8417-8434; J. Lumin. 2004, 108, 301-305; J. Lumin. 2005, 111, 89-104. Dorenbos, P.; van der Kolk, E. Appl. Phys. Lett. 2006, 89, 061122-1-061122-3; Opt. Mater. 2008, 30, 1052-1057. Dorenbos, P. J. Alloys Compd. 2009, 488, 568-573; references 1-6.) to describe the energy level scheme. This model implies that the mechanisms of luminescence sensitization of Tb(3+) and Eu(3+) in ZnS nanoparticles are different; namely, Tb(3+) acts as a hole trap, whereas Eu(3+) acts as an electron trap. Further testing of this model is made by extending the studies from ZnS nanoparticles to other II-VI semiconductor materials; namely, CdSe, CdS, and ZnSe.