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Guzelturk B, Diroll BT, Cassidy JP, Harankahage D, Hua M, Lin XM, Iyer V, Schaller RD, Lawrie BJ, Zamkov M. Bright and durable scintillation from colloidal quantum shells. Nat Commun 2024; 15:4274. [PMID: 38769114 PMCID: PMC11106345 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-48351-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/27/2024] [Accepted: 04/29/2024] [Indexed: 05/22/2024] Open
Abstract
Efficient, fast, and robust scintillators for ionizing radiation detection are crucial in various fields, including medical diagnostics, defense, and particle physics. However, traditional scintillator technologies face challenges in simultaneously achieving optimal performance and high-speed operation. Herein we introduce colloidal quantum shell heterostructures as X-ray and electron scintillators, combining efficiency, speed, and durability. Quantum shells exhibit light yields up to 70,000 photons MeV-1 at room temperature, enabled by their high multiexciton radiative efficiency thanks to long Auger-Meitner lifetimes (>10 ns). Radioluminescence is fast, with lifetimes of 2.5 ns and sub-100 ps rise times. Additionally, quantum shells do not exhibit afterglow and maintain stable scintillation even under high X-ray doses (>109 Gy). Furthermore, we showcase quantum shells for X-ray imaging achieving a spatial resolution as high as 28 line pairs per millimeter. Overall, efficient, fast, and durable scintillation make quantum shells appealing in applications ranging from ultrafast radiation detection to high-resolution imaging.
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Affiliation(s)
- Burak Guzelturk
- X-ray Science Division, Argonne National Laboratory, Lemont, IL, USA.
| | - Benjamin T Diroll
- Center for Nanoscale Materials, Argonne National Laboratory, Lemont, IL, USA.
| | - James P Cassidy
- Department of Physics, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, OH, USA
| | | | - Muchuan Hua
- Center for Nanoscale Materials, Argonne National Laboratory, Lemont, IL, USA
| | - Xiao-Min Lin
- Center for Nanoscale Materials, Argonne National Laboratory, Lemont, IL, USA
| | - Vasudevan Iyer
- Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN, USA
| | - Richard D Schaller
- Center for Nanoscale Materials, Argonne National Laboratory, Lemont, IL, USA
- Department of Chemistry, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA
| | - Benjamin J Lawrie
- Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN, USA
- Materials Science and Technology Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN, USA
| | - Mikhail Zamkov
- Department of Physics, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, OH, USA.
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Carr Delgado H, Moradifar P, Chinn G, Levin CS, Dionne JA. Toward "super-scintillation" with nanomaterials and nanophotonics. NANOPHOTONICS 2024; 13:1953-1962. [PMID: 38745841 PMCID: PMC11090085 DOI: 10.1515/nanoph-2023-0946] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/24/2023] [Accepted: 03/18/2024] [Indexed: 05/16/2024]
Abstract
Following the discovery of X-rays, scintillators are commonly used as high-energy radiation sensors in diagnostic medical imaging, high-energy physics, astrophysics, environmental radiation monitoring, and security inspections. Conventional scintillators face intrinsic limitations including a low extraction efficiency of scintillated light and a low emission rate, leading to efficiencies that are less than 10 % for commercial scintillators. Overcoming these limitations will require new materials including scintillating nanomaterials ("nanoscintillators"), as well as new photonic approaches that increase the efficiency of the scintillation process, increase the emission rate of materials, and control the directivity of the scintillated light. In this perspective, we describe emerging nanoscintillating materials and three nanophotonic platforms: (i) plasmonic nanoresonators, (ii) photonic crystals, and (iii) high-Q metasurfaces that could enable high performance scintillators. We further discuss how a combination of nanoscintillators and photonic structures can yield a "super scintillator" enabling ultimate spatio-temporal resolution while enabling a significant boost in the extracted scintillation emission.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hamish Carr Delgado
- Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA94305, USA
| | - Parivash Moradifar
- Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA94305, USA
| | - Garry Chinn
- Department of Radiology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA
| | - Craig S. Levin
- Department of Radiology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA
| | - Jennifer A. Dionne
- Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA94305, USA
- Department of Radiology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA
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Diroll BT, Hua M, Guzelturk B, Pálmai M, Tomczak K. Long-Lived and Bright Biexcitons in Quantum Dots with Parabolic Band Potentials. NANO LETTERS 2023; 23:11975-11981. [PMID: 38079425 DOI: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.3c04361] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/28/2023]
Abstract
Multiple exciton physics in semiconductor nanocrystals play an important role in optoelectronic devices. This work investigates radially alloyed CdZnSe/CdS nanocrystals with suppressed Auger recombination due to the spatial separation of carriers, which also underpins their performance in optical gain and scintillation experiments. Due to suppressed Auger recombination, the biexciton lifetime is greater than 10 ns, much longer than most nanocrystals. The samples show optical gain, amplified spontaneous emission, and lasing at thresholds <2 excitons per particle. They also show broad gain bandwidth (>500 meV) encompassing 4 amplified spontaneous emission bands. Similarly enabled by slowed multiple exciton relaxation, the samples display strong performance in scintillating films under X-ray illumination. The CdZnSe/CdS samples have fast radioluminescence rise (<80 ps) and decay times (<5 ns), light yields up to 6700 photons·MeV-1, and the demonstrated capacity for incorporation into large area films for scintillation imaging.
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Affiliation(s)
- Benjamin T Diroll
- Center for Nanoscale Materials, Argonne National Laboratory, 9700 S. Cass Avenue, Lemont, Illinois 60439, United States
| | - Muchuan Hua
- Center for Nanoscale Materials, Argonne National Laboratory, 9700 S. Cass Avenue, Lemont, Illinois 60439, United States
| | - Burak Guzelturk
- X-ray Sciences Division, Argonne National Laboratory, 9700 S. Cass Avenue, Lemont, Illinois 60439, United States
| | - Marcell Pálmai
- Department of Chemistry, University of Illinois Chicago, 845 W. Taylor Street, Chicago, Illinois 60607-7061, United States
| | - Kyle Tomczak
- Department of Chemistry, University of Illinois Chicago, 845 W. Taylor Street, Chicago, Illinois 60607-7061, United States
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Diroll BT, Cassidy JP, Harankahage D, Hua M, Lin XM, Zamkov M. Large two-photon cross sections and low-threshold multiphoton lasing of CdS/CdSe/CdS quantum shells. NANOSCALE 2023; 15:18415-18422. [PMID: 37936481 DOI: 10.1039/d3nr04203k] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/09/2023]
Abstract
Colloidal quantum shells are spherical semiconductor quantum wells, which have shown strong promise as optical materials, particularly in classes of experiments requiring multiple excitons. The two-photon properties of CdS/CdSe/CdS quantum shell samples are studied here to demonstrate large non-linear absorption cross-sections while retaining advantageous multiexciton physics conferred by the geometrical structure. The quantum shells have large two-phonon cross sections (0.4-7.9 × 106 GM), which highlights their potential use in upconversion imaging in which large per particle two-photon absorption is critical. Time-resolved measurements confirmed that the quantum shells have long biexciton lifetime (>10 ns in the largest core samples reported here) and large gain bandwidth (>300 meV). The combination of these attributes with large two-photon cross sections makes the CdS/CdSe/CdS quantum shells excellent gain media for two-photon excitation. With a broad gain bandwidth and long gain lifetime, quantum shell solids support multimodal amplified spontaneous emission from excitons, biexcitons, and higher excited states. Thresholds for amplified spontaneous emission and lasing, which are as low as 1 mJ cm-2, are comparable to, or lower than, the thresholds reported for other colloidal materials.
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Affiliation(s)
- Benjamin T Diroll
- Center for Nanoscale Materials, Argonne National Laboratory, 9700 S. Cass Avenue, Lemont, Illinois 60439, USA.
| | - James P Cassidy
- The Center for Photochemical Sciences and Department of Physics, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio 43403, USA
| | - Dulanjan Harankahage
- The Center for Photochemical Sciences and Department of Physics, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio 43403, USA
| | - Muchuan Hua
- Center for Nanoscale Materials, Argonne National Laboratory, 9700 S. Cass Avenue, Lemont, Illinois 60439, USA.
| | - Xiao-Min Lin
- Center for Nanoscale Materials, Argonne National Laboratory, 9700 S. Cass Avenue, Lemont, Illinois 60439, USA.
| | - Mikhail Zamkov
- The Center for Photochemical Sciences and Department of Physics, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio 43403, USA
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Beavon J, Huang J, Harankahage D, Montemurri M, Cassidy J, Zamkov M. Quantum shells versus quantum dots: suppressing Auger recombination in colloidal semiconductors. Chem Commun (Camb) 2023; 59:11337-11348. [PMID: 37676487 DOI: 10.1039/d3cc02091f] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 09/08/2023]
Abstract
Colloidal semiconductor nanocrystals (NCs) have attracted a great deal of attention in recent decades. The quantum efficiency of many optoelectronic processes based on these nanomaterials, however, declines with increasing optical or electrical excitation intensity. This issue is caused by Auger recombination of multiple excitons, which converts the NC energy into excess heat, whereby reducing the efficiency and lifespan of NC-based devices, including lasers, photodetectors, X-ray scintillators, and high-brightness LEDs. Recently, semiconductor quantum shells (QSs) have emerged as a viable nanoscale architecture for the suppression of Auger decay. The spherical-shell geometry of these nanostructures leads to a significant reduction of Auger decay rates, while exhibiting a near unity photoluminescence quantum yield. Here, we compare the optoelectronic properties of quantum shells against other low-dimensional semiconductors and discuss their emerging opportunities in solid-state lighting and energy-harvesting applications.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jacob Beavon
- Department of Physics, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio 43403, USA
| | - Jiamin Huang
- The Center for Photochemical Sciences, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio 43403, USA.
- Department of Physics, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio 43403, USA
| | - Dulanjan Harankahage
- The Center for Photochemical Sciences, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio 43403, USA.
- Department of Chemistry, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio 43403, USA
| | - Michael Montemurri
- Department of Physics, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio 43403, USA
| | - James Cassidy
- The Center for Photochemical Sciences, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio 43403, USA.
- Department of Chemistry, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio 43403, USA
| | - Mikhail Zamkov
- The Center for Photochemical Sciences, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio 43403, USA.
- Department of Physics, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio 43403, USA
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Secchi V, Monguzzi A, Villa I. Design Principles of Hybrid Nanomaterials for Radiotherapy Enhanced by Photodynamic Therapy. Int J Mol Sci 2022; 23:8736. [PMID: 35955867 PMCID: PMC9369190 DOI: 10.3390/ijms23158736] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/06/2022] [Revised: 07/28/2022] [Accepted: 08/03/2022] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Radiation (RT) remains the most frequently used treatment against cancer. The main limitation of RT is its lack of specificity for cancer tissues and the limited maximum radiation dose that can be safely delivered without damaging the surrounding healthy tissues. A step forward in the development of better RT is achieved by coupling it with other treatments, such as photodynamic therapy (PDT). PDT is an anti-cancer therapy that relies on the light activation of non-toxic molecules-called photosensitizers-to generate ROS such as singlet oxygen. By conjugating photosensitizers to dense nanoscintillators in hybrid architectures, the PDT could be activated during RT, leading to cell death through an additional pathway with respect to the one activated by RT alone. Therefore, combining RT and PDT can lead to a synergistic enhancement of the overall efficacy of RT. However, the involvement of hybrids in combination with ionizing radiation is not trivial: the comprehension of the relationship among RT, scintillation emission of the nanoscintillator, and therapeutic effects of the locally excited photosensitizers is desirable to optimize the design of the hybrid nanoparticles for improved effects in radio-oncology. Here, we discuss the working principles of the PDT-activated RT methods, pointing out the guidelines for the development of effective coadjutants to be tested in clinics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Valeria Secchi
- Department of Materials Science, University of Milano-Bicocca, Via R. Cozzi 55, 20125 Milan, Italy
- NANOMIB, Center for Biomedical Nanomedicine, University of Milano-Bicocca, P.zza Ateneo Nuovo 1, 20126 Milan, Italy
| | - Angelo Monguzzi
- Department of Materials Science, University of Milano-Bicocca, Via R. Cozzi 55, 20125 Milan, Italy
- NANOMIB, Center for Biomedical Nanomedicine, University of Milano-Bicocca, P.zza Ateneo Nuovo 1, 20126 Milan, Italy
| | - Irene Villa
- Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, FZU, Cukrovarnická 10/112, 16200 Prague, Czech Republic
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Allemand A, Kulzer F, Mahler B, Dujardin C, Houel J. Optical properties of individual CdS/CdSe/CdS nanocrystals: spherical quantum wells as single-photon sources. NANOTECHNOLOGY 2022; 33:275703. [PMID: 35299164 DOI: 10.1088/1361-6528/ac5ee3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/03/2022] [Accepted: 03/17/2022] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
We have synthesized CdS(1.3 nm)/CdSe(1.7 nm)/CdS(3.4 nm) spherical quantum wells (SQWs) with a diameter of 13 nm and demonstrated the first photon-antibunching from their emission, labelling them as single-photon sources. Antibunching survives even at high excitation intensities, ruling-out strong emission from the bi-exciton. For the largest intensities, antibunching coupled to spectral measurements reveal the signature of a blue-shifted emission, associated to an irreversible photo-aging effect. A statistical analysis over 26 SQWs demonstrates a moderate correlation between the energy of the main and the blue-shifted emission. Intensity-timetraces recorded on 28 single SQWs show weak blinking, with a median time spent in the bright state of 89%. Their emission decay reveals a complex dynamic with either three or four exponential components. We assigned three of them to the neutral and singly-charged excitons and the slowest to defect emission. While SQWs have been initially designed for laser-oriented applications, we demonstrate that they can serve as efficient single-photon sources.
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Affiliation(s)
- A Allemand
- Institut Lumière Matière, UMR5306 Université Lyon 1-CNRS, Université de Lyon, 69622 Villeurbanne cedex, France
| | - F Kulzer
- Institut Lumière Matière, UMR5306 Université Lyon 1-CNRS, Université de Lyon, 69622 Villeurbanne cedex, France
| | - B Mahler
- Institut Lumière Matière, UMR5306 Université Lyon 1-CNRS, Université de Lyon, 69622 Villeurbanne cedex, France
| | - C Dujardin
- Institut Lumière Matière, UMR5306 Université Lyon 1-CNRS, Université de Lyon, 69622 Villeurbanne cedex, France
| | - J Houel
- Institut Lumière Matière, UMR5306 Université Lyon 1-CNRS, Université de Lyon, 69622 Villeurbanne cedex, France
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