Colloidal semiconductor nanocrystals: from bottom-up nanoarchitectonics to energy harvesting applications

Colloidal semiconductor nanocrystals (NCs) have been extensively investigated owing to their unique properties induced by the quantum confinement effect. The advent of colloidal synthesis routes led to the design of stable colloidal NCs with uniform size, shape, and composition. Metal oxides, phosphides, and chalcogenides (ZnE, CdE, PbE, where E = S, Se, or Te) are few of the most important monocomponent semiconductor NCs, which show excellent optoelectronic properties. The ability to build quantum confined heterostructures comprising two or more semiconductor NCs offer greater customization and tunability of properties compared to their monocomponent counterparts. More recently, the halide perovskite NCs showed exceptional optoelectronic properties for energy generation and harvesting applications. Numerous applications including photovoltaic, photodetectors, light emitting devices, catalysis, photochemical devices, and solar driven fuel cells have demonstrated using these NCs in the recent past. Overall, semiconductor NCs prepared via the colloidal synthesis route offer immense potential to become an alternative to the presently available device applications. This feature article will explore the progress of NCs syntheses with outstanding potential to control the shape and spatial dimensionality required for photovoltaic, light emitting diode, and photocatalytic applications. We also attempt to address the challenges associated with achieving high efficiency devices with the NCs and possible solutions including interface engineering, packing control, encapsulation chemistry, and device architecture engineering.

Flexible Quantum Dot Light-Emitting Device for Emerging Multifunctional and Smart Applications

Quantum dot light-emitting diodes (QLEDs), owing to their exceptional performances in device efficiency, color purity/tunability in the visible region and solution-processing ability on various substrates, become a potential candidate for flexible and ultrathin electroluminescent (EL) lighting and display. Moreover, beyond the lighting and display, flexible QLEDs are enabled with endless possibilities in the era of the internet of things and artificial intelligence by acting as input/output ports in wearable integrated systems. Challenges remain in the development of flexible QLEDs with the goals for high performance, excellent flexibility/even stretchability, and emerging applications. In this paper, the recent developments of QLEDs including quantum dot materials, working mechanism, flexible/stretchable strategies and patterning strategies, and highlight its emerging multifunctional integrations and smart applications covering wearable optical medical devices, pressure-sensing EL devices, and neural smart EL devices, are reviewed. The remaining challenges are also summarized and an outlook on the future development of flexible QLEDs made. The review is expected to offer a systematic understanding and valuable inspiration for flexible QLEDs to simultaneously satisfy optoelectronic and flexible properties for emerging applications.

Triple Ligand Engineered Gold Nanoclusters with Enhanced Fluorescence and Device Compatibility for Efficient Electroluminescence Light-Emitting Diodes

Gold nanoclusters (Au NCs) are potential emitters for electroluminescent light-emitting diodes (EL-LEDs) but restricted by the limited photoluminescence quantum yield (PLQY) and poor device compatibility. Herein, triple ligand engineered Au NCs enable the fabrication of Au NC-based LEDs with improved EL efficiency. Rigidified triple ligand shells greatly reduce the nonradiative transition and thus increase the PLQY of Au NCs from 2.1 to 73.4%. Most importantly, this strategy significantly improves the compatibility between Au NCs and charge transport materials in EL-LED fabrication. As a result, the EL-LEDs reach a maximum brightness of 1104 cd/m² and an external quantum efficiency of 5.1%, which is the highest recorded for any reported Au NC-based EL-LEDs.

Large-area flexible colloidal-quantum-dot infrared photodiodes for photoplethysmogram signal measurements

Epitaxially grown photodiodes are the foundation of infrared photodetection technology; however, their rigid structure and limited area scaling limit their use in advanced applications. Colloidal-quantum-dot (CQD) infrared photodiodes have increased active areas through solution processing, and are thus potential candidates for large-area flexible photodetection, but these large-area photodiodes have disadvantages such as large dark current density, poor homogeneity, and poor stability. Therefore, this study established a fabrication strategy for large-area flexible CQD photodiodes that involves introducing polyimide to CQD ink to improve CQD passivation, monodisperse ink persistence, and film morphology. The resulting CQD photodiodes exhibited reduced dark current density and improved homogeneity and work stability. Furthermore, the as-prepared photodiodes exhibited a detectivity (D*) of greater than 10¹³ Jones, which was higher than other reported CQD photodetectors. The CQD photodiodes developed in this study can be used for wearable photoplethysmogram (PPG) signal measurement under ambient light at reduced cost and power consumption..

InP/ZnS quantum dots synthesis and photovoltaic application

In the present paper hybrid core–shell InP/ZnS quantum dots were prepared by the one pot synthesis method which does not require additional component injections and which complies more with cost requirements. The synthesized quantum dots were characterized by X-ray diffraction and optical spectroscopy methods. The applicability of the synthesized InP/ZnS core–shell particles in inverted solar cells fabricated with a step-by-step procedure which combines thermal vacuum deposition and spin-coating techniques was investigated. The resulting efficiency of the fabricated inverted solar cell is comparable to that of quantum-dot sensitized TiO2 based solar cells. Therefore, hybrid core–shell InP/ZnS particles can be considered as multifunctional light-harvesting materials useful for implementation in different types of photovoltaic devices, such as quantum dot sensitized solar cells and inverted solar cells.

Recent progress of single-halide perovskite nanocrystals for advanced displays

Light-emitting diodes based on lead halide perovskite nanocrystals (LHP NCs) have shown an astonishing increase in efficiency in just several years of academic research, reaching high external quantum efficiencies exceeding 20%. The extensive color-tunability and narrow emission bandwidth of LHP NCs, in particular, are of great importance in the creation of the next generation of ultra-high-definition displays, as defined by the Rec. 2020 standard recommendation. In fact, whereas the colour of LHP NCs can be easily tuned by the compositions of halogens, the ion migration in mixed-halide perovskites under the electric field will seriously affect the spectral stability and operational lifetimes of perovskite light-emitting diodes (PeLEDs). Therefore, it is essential to realize efficient colour-saturated PeLEDs based on single-halide perovskite NCs. In this review, we focus on the recent progress in LHP NC-based PeLEDs and highlight the strategy of tuning the spectral emission based on quantum confinement or cation alloying/doping in single-halide perovskite NCs. Finally, we will give an outlook on future research avenues for preparing high-efficiency pure green, red and blue PeLEDs based on single-halide perovskite NCs.

Highly efficient green emission Cs4PbBr6 quantum dots with stable water endurance

To date, quantum dots (QDs) based on perovskite materials with high photoluminescence quantum yield (PLQY) and stability have rarely been reported. In this work, Cs₄PbBr₆ QDs glass ceramic with high PLQY and water stability is obtained, and the research results confirm that the strong green emission originates from the trapping of free excitons by internal Br vacancies. The rise of Br vacancies and the spontaneous growth of multi-morphology Cs₄PbBr₆ QDs under the influence of air humidity increase the PLQY to 89.62%. Compared with pure QDs, the Cs₄PbBr₆ QDs maintain high-intensity luminescence after being immersed in water for up to 150 days. In short, this paper puts forward a new, to the best of our knowledge, and valuable perspective for investigating the luminescence of Cs₄PbBr₆ QDs glass ceramic derived from related work.

Molecular Design of Diazo Compound for Carbene-Mediated Cross-Linking of Hole-Transport Polymer in QLED with Reduced Energy Barrier and Improved Charge Balance

Polymeric hole-transport materials (HTMs) have been widely used in quantum-dot light-emitting diodes (QLEDs). However, their solution processability normally causes interlayer erosion and unstable film state, leading to undesired device performance. Besides, the imbalance of hole and electron transport in QLEDs also damages the device interfaces. In this study, we designed a bis-diazo compound, X1, as carbene cross-linker for polymeric HTM. Irradiated by ultraviolet and heating, a poly[(9,9-dioctylfluorenyl-2,7-diyl)-alt(4,4'-(N-(4-butylphenyl))] (TFB)/X1 blend can achieve fast "electronically clean" cross-linking with ∼100% solvent resistance. The cross-linking reduced the stacking behaviors of TFB and thus led to a lower hole-transport mobility, whereas it was a good match of electron mobility. The carbene-mediated TFB cross-linking also downshifted the HOMO level from -5.3 to -5.5 eV, delivering a smaller hole-transport energy barrier. Benefiting from these, the cross-linked QLED showed enhanced device performances over the pristine device, with EQE, power efficiency, and current efficiency being elevated by nearly 20, 15, and 83%, respectively. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report about a bis-diazo compound based carbene cross-linker built into a polymeric HTM for a QLED with enhanced device performance.

Enhancing oxygen/moisture resistance of quantum dots by short-chain, densely cross-linked silica glass network

Quantum dots (QDs) are facing significant photoluminescence degradation in moisture environment. In QDs-silicone composites, the poor water resistance of silicone matrix makes it easy for water and oxygen molecules to erode QDs. To tackle this issue, we proposed a new QDs protection strategy by introducing short-chain silica precursors onto the QDs' surface, so that a dense silica passivation layer could be formed onto the QDs nanoparticles. Sol-gel method based on 3-aminopropyl triethoxysilane (APTES), 3-mercaptopropyl trimethoxysilane (MPTMS), and 3-mercaptopropyl triethoxysilane (MPTES) were adopted to prepare the uniform and crack-free QDs-silica glass (QD-glass). Because of the crosslinking of short-chain precursors, the formed silica glass possesses 38.6% smaller pore width and 68.6% lower pore volume than silicone, indicating its denser cross-linked network surrounding QDs. After 360 h water immersion, the QDs-glass demonstrated a 6% enhancement in red-light peak intensity, and maintained a stable full width at half maximum (FWHM) and peak wavelength, proving its excellent water-resistant ability. However, the conventional QDs-silicone composites not only showed a decrease of 75.3% in red-light peak intensity, but also a broadened FWHM and a redshifted peak wavelength after water immersion. QDs-glass also showed superior photostability after 132 h exposure to blue light. Red-light peak intensity of QDs-glass remained 87.3% of the initial while that of QDs-silicone decreased to 19.8%. And the intensity of QDs-glass dropped to 62.3% of that under 20 °C after thermal treatment of 160 °C. Besides, under increasing driving currents, the light conversion efficiency drop of QDs-glass is only one fifth that of QDs-silicone. Based on the QDs-glass, the white light-emitting diodes was achieved with a high luminous efficiency of 126.5 lm W^-1and a high color rendering index of 95.4. Thus, the newly proposed QD-glass has great significance in guaranteeing the working reliability of QDs-converted devices against moisture and high-power environment.

Ultrafast dynamics and ultrasensitive single particle spectroscopy of optically robust core/alloy shell semiconductor quantum dots

A "one-pot one-step" synthesis method of Core/Alloy Shell (CAS) quantum dots (QDs) offers the scope of large scale synthesis in a less time consuming, more economical, highly reproducible and high-throughput manner in comparison to "multi-pot multi-step" synthesis for Core/Shell (CS) QDs. Rapid initial nucleation, and smooth & uniform shell growth lead to the formation of a compositionally-gradient alloyed hetero-structure with very significantly reduced interfacial trap density in CAS QDs. Thus, interfacial strain gets reduced in a much smoother manner leading to enhanced confinement for the photo-generated charge carriers in CAS QDs. Convincing proof of alloy-shelling for a CAS QD has been provided from HRTEM images at the single particle level. The band gap could be tuned as a function of composition, temperature, reactivity difference of precursors, etc. and a high PLQY and improved photochemical stability could be achieved for a small sized CAS QD. From the ultrafast exciton dynamics in CdSe and InP CAS QDs, it has been shown that (a) the hot exciton thermalization/relaxation happens in <500 fs, (b) hot electron trapping dynamics occurs within a ∼1 ps time scale, (c) band edge exciton trapping occurs within a 10-25 ps timescale and (d) for CdSe CAS QDs the hot hole gets trapped in about 35 ps. From fast PL decay dynamics, it has been shown that the amplitude of the intermediate time constant can be correlated with the PLQY. A model has been provided to understand these ultrafast to fast exciton dynamical processes. At the ultrasensitive single particle level, unlike CS QDs, CdSe CAS QDs have been shown to exhibit (a) constancy of PL_max (i.e. no bluing) and (b) constancy of PL intensity (i.e. no bleaching) of the single CAS QDs for continuous irradiation for one hour under an air atmosphere. Thus, CAS QDs hold the promise of being a superior optical probe in comparison to CS QDs both at the ensemble and at the single particle level, leading to enhanced flexibility of the CAS QDs towards designing and developing next generation application devices.

Assessing the Environmental Effects Related to Quantum Dot Structure, Function, Synthesis and Exposure

Quantum dots (QDs) are engineered semiconductor nanocrystals with unique fluorescent, quantum confinement, and quantum yield properties, making them valuable in a range of commercial and consumer imaging, display, and lighting technologies. Production and usage of QDs are increasing, which increases the probability of these nanoparticles entering the environment at various phases of their life cycle. This review discusses the major types and applications of QDs, their potential environmental exposures, fates, and adverse effects on organisms. For most applications, release to the environment is mainly expected to occur during QD synthesis and end-product manufacturing since encapsulation of QDs in these devices prevents release during normal use or landfilling. In natural waters, the fate of QDs is controlled by water chemistry, light intensity, and the physicochemical properties of QDs. Research on the adverse effects of QDs primarily focuses on sublethal endpoints rather than acute toxicity, and the differences in toxicity between pristine and weathered nanoparticles are highlighted. A proposed oxidative stress adverse outcome pathway framework demonstrates the similarities among metallic and carbon-based QDs that induce reactive oxygen species formation leading to DNA damage, reduced growth, and impaired reproduction in several organisms. To accurately evaluate environmental risk, this review identifies critical data gaps in QD exposure and ecological effects, and provides recommendations for future research. Future QD regulation should emphasize exposure and sublethal effects of metal ions released as the nanoparticles weather under environmental conditions. To date, human exposure to QDs from the environment and resulting adverse effects has not been reported.

Fabrication of Large-Area Uniform Nanometer-Thick Functional Layers and Their Stacks for Flexible Quantum Dot Light-Emitting Diodes

Large-area fabrication and stacking of various nanometer-thick functional layers from solutions is essentially important for the construction of flexible thin-film optoelectronic devices, but very challenging. The existing fabrication methods suffer from either non-uniformity caused by the coffee-ring effect or serious solution waste (excess of 90% for spin coating), and are hard to scale up and create stacks. Here, it is shown that centrifugal casting is a universal, scalable, and efficient method to fabricate uniform nanometer-thick films and their stacks of various materials. The coffee-ring effect is effectively suppressed, the solution utilization ratio is higher than ≈61%, and the films/stacks show a smooth surface/high-quality interface. Using this method, flexible quantum dot light-emitting diode displays with uniform luminance in a large lighting area of ≈115 cm² that have not been achieved even on rigid substrates by the existing methods, are realized. This efficient and low-cost solution processing method paves a way for large-area fabrication of various flexible thin-film optoelectronic devices.

Packing-Shape Effects of Optical Properties in Amplified Spontaneous Emission through Dynamics of Orbit-Orbit Polarization Interaction in Hybrid Perovskite Quantum Dots Based on Self-Assembly

This paper reports packing-shape effects of amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) through orbital polarization dynamics between light-emitting excitons by stacking perovskite (MAPbBr₃) quantum dots (QDs sized between 10 nm and 14 nm) into rod-like and diamond-like aggregates. The rod-like packing shows a prolonged photoluminescence (PL) lifetime (184 ns) with 3 nm red-shifted peak (525 nm) as compared to the diamond-like packing (PL peak, 522 nm; lifetime, 19 ns). This indicates that the rod-like packing forms a stronger interaction between QDs with reduced surface-charged defects, leading to surface-to-inside property-tuning capability with an ASE. Interestingly, the ASE enabled by rod-like packing shows an orbit-orbit polarization interaction between light-emitting excitons, identified by linearly/circularly polarized pumping conditions. More importantly, the polarization dynamics is extended to the order of nanoseconds in the rod-like assembly, determined by the observation that within the ASE lifetime (2.54 ns) the rotating pumping beam polarization direction largely affects the coherent interaction between light-emitting excitons.

Analyzing and modulating energy transfer in ternary-emissive system of quantum dot light-emitting diodes towards efficient emission

The mechanisms for energy transfer including Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) and radiative energy transfer in ternary-emissive system consists of blended-quantum dots (QDs, red-QDs blended with blue-QDs) emissive layer (EML) and blue-emissive hole-transport material that contained in quantum dot light-emitting diodes (QLEDs) are complicated. As the energy transfer could exhibit either positive or negative impact on QD's photoluminescence (PL) and electroluminescence (EL), it is important to analyze and modulate energy transfer in such ternary-emissive system to obtain high-efficiency QLEDs. In this work, we have demonstrated that proper B-QDs doping has a positive impact on R-QDs' PL and EL, where these improvements were attributed to the B-QDs' spacing effect on R-QDs which weakens homogeneous FRET among R-QDs and near 100% efficient heterogeneous FRET from B-QDs to R-QDs. With optimization based on the analysis of energy transfer, the PL quantum yield of blended-QDs (with R:B blending ratio of 90:10, in quality) film has been enhanced by 35% compared with that of unblended R-QDs film. Moreover, thanks to the spacing effect and high-efficiency FRET from B-QDs to R-QDs, the external quantum efficiency of QLEDs that integrate optimized blended-QDs (R:B=90:10) EML reaches 22.1%, which is 15% higher than that of the control sample (19.2%) with unblended R-QDs EML. This work provides a systematically analytical method to study the energy transfer in ternary-emissive system, and gives a valid reference for the analysis and development of the emerging QLEDs that with blended-QDs EML.

Highly Efficient and Controllable Methodology of the Cd0.25Zn0.75Se/ZnS Core/Shell Quantum Dots Synthesis

The surface of any binary or multi-component nanocrystal has imperfections and defects. The number of surface defects depends both on the nature of the nanomaterial and on the method of its preparation. One of the possibilities to confine the number of surface defects is the epitaxial growth of the shell, which leads to a change in the physical properties while maintaining the morphology of the core. To form a shell of the desired thickness, an accurate calculation of the amount of its precursors is substantial to avoid the appearance of individual crystals consisting of the shell material. This study aimed to develop an effective calculation method for the theoretical amount of precursors required for the formation of a ZnS shell on the surface of a Cd_0.25Zn_0.75Se core, followed by the practical implementation of theoretical calculations and characterization of the prepared nanomaterials. This method allows the complete control of the masses and volumes of the initial reagents, which will in turn prevent undesirable nucleation of nuclei consisting of the shell material. In the synthesis of Cd_0.25Zn_0.75Se/ZnS core/shell quantum dots (QDs), the sources of chalcogens were substituted seleno- and thioureas, which are capable of not only supplanting modern toxic sources of sulfur and selenium but also allowing one to perform the controlled synthesis of highly photoluminescent QDs with a low number of surface defects. The result of this shell overcoating method was an impetuous augmentation in the photoluminescence quantum yield (PL QY up to 83%), uniformity in size and shape, and a high yield of nanomaterials. The developed synthetic technique of core/shell QDs provides a controlled growth of the shell on the core surface, which makes it possible to transfer this method to an industrial scale.

Optimizing the PMMA Electron-Blocking Layer of Quantum Dot Light-Emitting Diodes

Quantum dots (QDs) are promising candidates for producing bright, color-pure, cost-efficient, and long-lasting QD-based light-emitting diodes (QDLEDs). However, one of the significant problems in achieving high efficiency of QDLEDs is the imbalance between the rates of charge-carrier injection into the emissive QD layer and their transport through the device components. Here we investigated the effect of the parameters of the deposition of a poly (methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) electron-blocking layer (EBL), such as PMMA solution concentration, on the characteristics of EBL-enhanced QDLEDs. A series of devices was fabricated with the PMMA layer formed from acetone solutions with concentrations ranging from 0.05 to 1.2 mg/mL. The addition of the PMMA layer allowed for an increase of the maximum luminance of QDLED by a factor of four compared to the control device without EBL, that is, to 18,671 cd/m2, with the current efficiency increased by an order of magnitude and the turn-on voltage decreased by ~1 V. At the same time, we have demonstrated that each particular QDLED characteristic has a maximum at a specific PMMA layer thickness; therefore, variation of the EBL deposition conditions could serve as an additional parameter space when other QDLED optimization approaches are being developed or implied in future solid-state lighting and display devices.

Quantum Dots and Gd3+ Chelates: Advances and Challenges Towards Bimodal Nanoprobes for Magnetic Resonance and Optical Imaging

The development of multimodal nanoprobes has been growing in recent years. Among these novel nanostructures are bimodal systems based on quantum dots (QDs) and low molecular weight Gd³⁺ chelates, prepared for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and optical analyses. MRI is a technique used worldwide that provides anatomic resolution and allows distinguishing of physiological differences at tissue and organ level. On the other hand, optical techniques are very sensitive and allow events to be followed at the cellular or molecular level. Thus, the association of these two techniques has the potential to achieve a more complete comprehension of biological processes. In this review, we present state-of-the-art research concerning the development of potential multimodal optical/paramagnetic nanoprobes based on Gd³⁺ chelates and QDs, highlighting their preparation strategies and overall properties.

Phenethylamine ligand engineering of red InP quantum dots for improving the efficiency of quantum dot light-emitting diodes

In this Letter, red-emitting multi-shelled indium phosphide (InP) quantum dots (QDs) were synthesized using the safe phosphorus precursor tris(dimethylamino)phosphine ((DMA)₃P). The long-chain ligands of oleylamine (OAm) in the (DMA)₃P phosphide source-based InP QDs were partially exchanged with short-chain ligands of phenethylamine (PEA) in the core formation process, and the resulting InP QDs were applied to quantum dot light-emitting diodes (QLEDs). The short-chain ligands of PEA with the π-conjugated benzene ring improved the charge transport and electrical conduction of the QLEDs with (DMA)₃P phosphide source-based InP QDs. The PEA-engineering of InP QDs improved their maximum quantum yield from 71% to 85.5% with the full-width at half-maximum of 62 nm. Furthermore, the maximum external quantum efficiency of QLEDs with the PEA-engineered InP QDs improved from 1.9% to 3.5%, and their maximum power efficiency increased from 2.8 to 6.0 lm/W. This Letter demonstrates that engineering the core formation process with the short-chain ligands of PEA provides an efficient and facile way to improve the charge transport and electrical conduction in (DMA)₃P phosphide source-based InP QLEDs for electroluminescent devices.

Effective Surface Ligand-Concentration Tuning of Deep-Blue Luminescent FAPbBr3 Nanoplatelets with Enhanced Stability and Charge Transport

Metal-halide perovskite-based green and red light-emitting diodes (LEDs) have witnessed a rapid development because of their facile synthesis and processability; however, the blue-band emission is constrained by their unstable chemical properties and poorly conducting emitting layers. Here, we show a trioctylphosphine oxide (TOPO)-mediated one-step approach to realize bright deep-blue luminescent FAPbBr₃ nanoplatelets (NPLs) with enhanced stability and charge transport. The concentration of NPL surface ligands is shown to be progressively tuned via varying the amount of intermediate TOPO due to the acid-base equilibrium between protic acid and TOPO. By effectively optimizing the concentration of surface ligands, the structural integrity of NPL solids can be preserved in ambient air for a week, mainly because of the highly ordered and dense solid assembly and the reduced defects. The removal of excess organic ligands also enables the improvement of charge mobility by orders of magnitude. Ultimately, ultrapure deep-blue perovskite LEDs (439 nm) with a narrow emission width of 14 nm and a peak EQE of 0.14% are achieved at low driving voltage. Our finding expands the current understanding of surface ligand modulation in the development of pure bromide deep-blue perovskite optoelectronics.

Surface/Interface Engineering for Constructing Advanced Nanostructured Light-Emitting Diodes with Improved Performance: A Brief Review

With the rise of nanoscience and nanotechnologies, especially the continuous deepening of research on low-dimensional materials and structures, various kinds of light-emitting devices based on nanometer-structured materials are gradually becoming the natural candidates for the next generation of advanced optoelectronic devices with improved performance through engineering their interface/surface properties. As dimensions of light-emitting devices are scaled down to the nanoscale, the plentitude of their surface/interface properties is one of the key factors for their dominating device performance. In this paper, firstly, the generation, classification, and influence of surface/interface states on nanometer optical devices will be given theoretically. Secondly, the relationship between the surface/interface properties and light-emitting diode device performance will be investigated, and the related physical mechanisms will be revealed by introducing classic examples. Especially, how to improve the performance of light-emitting diodes by using factors such as the surface/interface purification, quantum dots (QDs)-emitting layer, surface ligands, optimization of device architecture, and so on will be summarized. Finally, we explore the main influencing actors of research breakthroughs related to the surface/interface properties on the current and future applications for nanostructured light-emitting devices.

Direct white light emission from carbon nanodots (C-dots) in solution processed light emitting diodes

We describe the preparation of inverted white light emitting diodes by solution processing. The active layer is formed uniquely by Carbon Nanodots (C-dots) that display white-light emission at voltage close to 5 V when combined with metal oxides as charge transport layers. Moreover, we have demonstrated that the white light is not the product of charge transfer between the polymer selective contact and the C-dots but the result of the different recombination processes within the C-dots.

Influence of PMMA on All-Inorganic Halide Perovskite CsPbBr₃ Quantum Dots Combined with Polymer Matrix

The poor stability of CsPbX₃ quantum dots (QDs-CsPbX₃) under wet conditions is still considered to be a key issue. In order to overcome this problem, this study presents a high molecular weight polymer matrix (polymethylmethacrylate, PMMA) incorporated into the QDs-CsPbBr₃ to improve its stability and maintain its excellent optical properties. In this study, the Cs₂CO₃, PbO, Tetrabutylammonium Bromide (TOAB) powder, oleic acid, and toluene solvent were uniformly mixed and purified to prepare high-quality QDs powders. Then, hexane was used as a dispersing agent for the QD powder to complete the perovskite QDs-CsPbBr₃ solution. Finally, a solution with different proportions of quantum dots CsPbBr₃ and PMMA was prepared and discussed. In the preparation of thin films, firstly, a thin film with the structure of glass/QD-CsPbBr₃/PMMA was fabricated in a glove box using a well-developed QDs-CsPbBr₃ solution by changing the ratio of CsPbBr₃:PMMA. The material analysis of QDs-CsPbBr₃ thin films was performed with photoluminescence (PL), transmittance, absorbance, and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The structures and morphologies were further examined to study the effect of doped PMMA on perovskite QDs-CsPbBr₃.

Bi-inorganic-ligand coordinated colloidal quantum dot ink

The novel ligand-exchange strategy enhances electric double layers, stabilizing QDs in low polarity butylamine, which alleviates the ligand loss.

Simultaneous Improvement of Efficiency and Lifetime of Quantum Dot Light-Emitting Diodes with a Bilayer Hole Injection Layer Consisting of PEDOT:PSS and Solution-Processed WO3

Even though chemically stable metal oxides (MOs), as substitutes for poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):polystyrene sulfonate (PEDOT:PSS), have been successfully adopted for improving device stability in solution-processed quantum dot light-emitting diodes (QLEDs), the efficiencies of QLEDs are at a relatively low level. In this work, a novel architecture of QLEDs has been introduced, in which inorganic/organic bilayer hole injection layers (HILs) were delicately designed by inserting an amorphous WO₃ interlayer between PEDOT:PSS and the indium tin oxide anode. As a result, the efficiency and operational lifetime of QLEDs were improved simultaneously. The results show that the novel architecture QLEDs relative to conventional PEDOT:PSS-based QLEDs have an enhanced external quantum efficiency by a factor of 50%, increasing from 8.31 to 12.47%, meanwhile exhibit a relatively long operational lifetime (12 551 h) and high maximum brightness (>40 000 cd m^-2) resulting from a better pathway for hole injection with staircase energy-level alignment of the HILs and reduction of surface roughness. Our results demonstrate that the novel architecture QLEDs using bilayer MO/PEDOT:PSS HILs can achieve long operational lifetime without sacrificing efficiency.

Room-Temperature Triple-Ligand Surface Engineering Synergistically Boosts Ink Stability, Recombination Dynamics, and Charge Injection toward EQE-11.6% Perovskite QLEDs

Developing low-cost and high-quality quantum dots (QDs) or nanocrystals (NCs) and their corresponding efficient light-emitting diodes (LEDs) is crucial for the next-generation ultra-high-definition flexible displays. Here, there is a report on a room-temperature triple-ligand surface engineering strategy to play the synergistic role of short ligands of tetraoctylammonium bromide (TOAB), didodecyldimethylammonium bromide (DDAB), and octanoic acid (OTAc) toward "ideal" perovskite QDs with a high photoluminescence quantum yield (PLQY) of >90%, unity radiative decay in its intrinsic channel, stable ink characteristics, and effective charge injection and transportation in QD films, resulting in the highly efficient QD-based LEDs (QLEDs). Furthermore, the QD films with less nonradiative recombination centers exhibit improved PL properties with a PLQY of 61% through dopant engineering in A-site. The robustness of such properties is demonstrated by the fabrication of green electroluminescent LEDs based on CsPbBr₃ QDs with the peak external quantum efficiency (EQE) of 11.6%, and the corresponding peak internal quantum efficiency (IQE) and power efficiency are 52.2% and 44.65 lm W^-1 , respectively, which are the most-efficient perovskite QLEDs with colloidal CsPbBr₃ QDs as emitters up to now. These results demonstrate that the as-obtained QD inks have a wide range application in future high-definition QD displays and high-quality lightings.

Surface Engineering of Quantum Dots for Remarkably High Detectivity Photodetectors

Ternary alloyed CdSe _xTe_{1- x} colloidal QDs trap-passivated by iodide-based ligands (TBAI) are developed as building blocks for UV-NIR photodetectors. Both the few surface traps and high loading of QDs are obtained by in situ ligand exchange with TBAI. The device is sensitive to a broad wavelength range covering the UV-NIR region (300-850 nm), showing an excellent photoresponsivity of 53 mA/W, a fast response time of ≪0.02s, and remarkably high detectivity values of 8 × 10¹³ Jones at 450 nm and 1 × 10¹³ Jones at 800 nm without an external bias voltage. Such performance is superior to what has been reported earlier for QD-based photodetectors. The photodetector exhibits excellent stability, keeping 98% of photoelectric responsivity after 2 months of illumination in air even without encapsulation. In addition, the semitransparent device is successfully fabricated using a Ag nanowires/polyimide transparent substrate. Such self-powered photodetectors with fast response speed and a stable, broad-band response are expected to function under a broad range of environmental conditions.

Over 800% efficiency enhancement of all-inorganic quantum-dot light emitting diodes with an ultrathin alumina passivating layer

The use of robust, inorganic charge-transport materials is always desired in quantum-dot light emitting diodes (QLEDs) because they are expected to allow higher stability and lower cost than their organic counterparts. We achieve here an all-inorganic QLED with excellent efficiency by modifying the solution-processed NiO (s-NiO) surface with an ultrathin Al2O3 passivating layer. Both transient resolution photoluminescence and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy measurements demonstrate that the Al2O3 layer can effectively passivate NiOOH on the s-NiO surface, thereby suppressing exciton quenching. This improves the highest efficiency of the QLED without an Al2O3 layer by over 800% to a current efficiency (external quantum efficiency) of 34.1 cd A-1 (8.1%), making it the best-performing all-inorganic QLED.

Balancing the Electron and Hole Transfer for Efficient Quantum Dot Light-Emitting Diodes by Employing a Versatile Organic Electron-Blocking Layer

The electron-blocking layer (EBL) is important to balance the charge carrier transfer and achieve highly efficient quantum dot light-emitting diodes (QLEDs). Here, we report the utilization of a soluble tert-butyldimethylsilyl chloride-modified poly( p-phenylene benzobisoxazole) (TBS-PBO) as an EBL for simultaneous good charge carrier transfer balance while maintaining a high current density. We show that the versatile TBS-PBO blocks excess electron injection into the quantum dots (QDs), thus leading to better charge carrier transfer balance. It also restricts the undesired QD-to-EBL electron-transfer process, which preserves the superior emission capabilities of the emitter. As a consequence, the TBS-PBO device delivers an external quantum efficiency (EQE) maximum of 16.7% along with a remarkable current density as high as 139 mA/cm² with a brightness of 5484 cd/m². The current density of our device is higher than those of insulator EBL-based devices because of the higher conductivity of the TBS-PBO versus insulator EBL, thus helping achieve high luminance values ranging from 1414 to 20 000 cd/cm² with current densities ranging from 44 to 648 mA/cm² and EQE > 14%. We believe that these unconventional features of the present TBS-PBO-based QLEDs will expand the wide use of TBS-PBO as buffer layers in other advanced QLED applications.

Light-Emitting Diodes Based on Colloidal Silicon Quantum Dots with Octyl and Phenylpropyl Ligands

Colloidal silicon quantum dots (Si QDs) hold ever-growing promise for the development of novel optoelectronic devices such as light-emitting diodes (LEDs). Although it has been proposed that ligands at the surface of colloidal Si QDs may significantly impact the performance of LEDs based on colloidal Si QDs, little systematic work has been carried out to compare the performance of LEDs that are fabricated using colloidal Si QDs with different ligands. Here, colloidal Si QDs with rather short octyl ligands (Octyl-Si QDs) and phenylpropyl ligands (PhPr-Si QDs) are employed for the fabrication of LEDs. It is found that the optical power density of PhPr-Si QD LEDs is larger than that of Octyl-Si QD LEDs. This is due to the fact that the surface of PhPr-Si QDs is more oxidized and less defective than that of Octyl-Si QDs. Moreover, the benzene rings of phenylpropyl ligands significantly enhance the electron transport of QD LEDs. It is interesting that the external quantum efficiency (EQE) of PhPr-Si QD LEDs is lower than that of Octyl-Si QD LEDs because the benzene rings of phenylpropyl ligands suppress the hole transport of QD LEDs. The unbalance between the electron and hole injection in PhPr-Si QD LEDs is more serious than that in Octyl-Si QD LEDs. The currently obtained highest optical power density of ∼0.64 mW/cm² from PhPr-Si QD LEDs and highest EQE of ∼6.2% from Octyl-Si QD LEDs should encourage efforts to further advance the development of high-performance optoelectronic devices based on colloidal Si QDs.

Perovskite Quantum Dots and Their Application in Light-Emitting Diodes

Perovskite quantum dots (PQDs) attract significant interest in recent years because of their unique optical properties, such as tunable wavelength, narrow emission, and high photoluminescence quantum efficiency (PLQY). Recent studies report new types of formamidinium (FA) PbBr₃ PQDs, PQDs with organic-inorganic mixed cations, divalent cation doped colloidal CsPb_1-x M_x Br₃ PQDs (M = Sn²⁺ , Cd²⁺ , Zn²⁺ , Mn²⁺ ) featuring partial cation exchange, and heterovalent cation doped into PQDs (Bi³⁺ ). These PQD analogs open new possibilities for optoelectronic devices. For commercial applications in lighting and backlight displays, stability of PQDs requires further improvement to prevent their degradation by temperature, oxygen, moisture, and light. Oxygen and moisture-facilitated ion migration may easily etch unstable PQDs. Easy ion migration may result in crystal growth, which lowers PLQY of PQDs. Surface coating and treatment are important procedures for overcoming such factors. In this study, new types of PQDs and a strategy of improving their stabilities are introduced. Finally, this paper discusses future applications of PQDs in light-emitting diodes.

Bright alloy type-II quantum dots and their application to light-emitting diodes

Type-II quantum dots (QDs) are emerging as a promising candidate for full color light sources owing to their advantages in achieving full color light by tuning the heterostructures. Despite the recent developments in type-II QDs, the choices of proper materials are limited for the composition of a high-quality QD and it still remains a big challenge to enhance the photoluminescence (PL) quantum yields (QYs) of type-II QDs for light-emitting diode (LED) applications. Here, we develop Cd_xZn_1-xS/ZnSe/ZnS type-II QDs with a maximum quantum yield as high as 88.5%. Time-resolved PL results show that the ZnS shell suppresses non-radiative pathways by passivating the surface of Cd_xZn_1-xS/ZnSe, thus leading to a high QY. Moreover, our results demonstrate that the outer ZnS also benefits the charge injection and radiative recombinations of the Cd_xZn_1-xS/ZnSe. The LED based on green Cd_0.2Zn_0.8S/ZnSe/ZnS QDs achieves a current efficiency (CE) of 9.17cdA^-1, an external quantum efficiency (EQE) of 8.78% and a low turn-on voltage of ∼2.3V.

Hybrid Colloidal Stabilization Mechanism toward Improved Photoluminescence and Stability of CdSe/CdS Core/Shell Quantum Dots

Colloidal quantum dots can be stabilized in either a polar solvent or a nonpolar solvent depending on their surface chemistry. The former is typically achieved by charge stabilization while the latter by steric hindrance. This allows reversible tuning of their surface polarity for targeted application by engineering their ligand profile. Here we developed a hybrid stabilization approach that leveraged a combination of steric hindrance and charge stabilization simultaneously. We demonstrated this mechanism in a phase transfer process where hexane dispersed and hydrophobic CdSe/CdS core/shell quantum dots were exchanged into the hydrophilic dimethylformamide (DMF) phase. This was achieved by employing both Z-type cadmium acetate and X-type halide ligands. The results suggested only by using this hybrid stabilization strategy were we able to achieve good colloidal stability while preserving their photoluminescence quantum yield. This hybrid ligand strategy may promise new opportunities for the application of QDs in optoelectronic areas.