Quantitative Electrochemical Control over Optical Gain in Quantum-Dot Solids

Solution-processed quantum dot (QD) lasers are one of the holy grails of nanoscience. They are not yet commercialized because the lasing threshold is too high: one needs >1 exciton per QD, which is difficult to achieve because of fast nonradiative Auger recombination. The threshold can, however, be reduced by electronic doping of the QDs, which decreases the absorption near the band-edge, such that the stimulated emission (SE) can easily outcompete absorption. Here, we show that by electrochemically doping films of CdSe/CdS/ZnS QDs, we achieve quantitative control over the gain threshold. We obtain stable and reversible doping of more than two electrons per QD. We quantify the gain threshold and the charge carrier dynamics using ultrafast spectroelectrochemistry and achieve quantitative agreement between experiments and theory, including a vanishingly low gain threshold for doubly doped QDs. Over a range of wavelengths with appreciable gain coefficients, the gain thresholds reach record-low values of ∼1 × 10-5 excitons per QD. These results demonstrate a high level of control over the gain threshold in doped QD solids, opening a new route for the creation of cheap, solution-processable, low-threshold QD lasers.

Electrochemical Modulation of the Photophysics of Surface-Localized Trap States in Core/Shell/(Shell) Quantum Dot Films

In this work, we systematically study the spectroelectrochemical response of CdSe quantum dots (QDs), CdSe/CdS core/shell QDs with varying CdS shell thicknesses, and CdSe/CdS/ZnS core/shell/shell QDs in order to elucidate the influence of localized surface trap states on the optoelectronic properties. By correlating the differential absorbance and the photoluminescence upon electrochemically raising the Fermi level, we reveal that trap states near the conduction band (CB) edge give rise to nonradiative recombination pathways regardless of the CdS shell thickness, evidenced by quenching of the photoluminescence before the CB edge is populated with electrons. This points in the direction of shallow trap states localized on the CdS shell surface that give rise to nonradiative recombination pathways. We suggest that these shallow trap states reduce the quantum yield because of enhanced hole trapping when the Fermi level is raised electrochemically. We show that these shallow trap states are removed when additional wide band gap ZnS shells are grown around the CdSe/CdS core/shell QDs.

Spectroscopic Evidence for the Contribution of Holes to the Bleach of Cd-Chalcogenide Quantum Dots

In transient absorption (TA) measurements on Cd-chalcogenide quantum dots (QDs), the presence of a band-edge (BE) bleach signal is commonly attributed entirely to conduction-band electrons in the 1S(e) state, neglecting contributions from BE holes. While this has been the accepted view for more than 20 years, and has often been used to distinguish electron and hole kinetics, the reason for the absence of a hole contribution to the BE-bleach has remained unclear. Here, we show with three independent experiments that holes do in fact have a significant impact on the BE-bleach of well-passivated Cd-chalcogenide QD samples. Transient absorption experiments on high photoluminescence quantum yield CdSe/CdS/ZnS core-shell-shell QDs clearly show an increase of the band-edge bleach as holes cool down to the band edge. The relative contribution of electron-to-hole bleach is 2:1, as predicted by theory. The same measurements on core-only CdSe QDs with a lower quantum yield do not show a contribution of holes to the band-edge bleach. We assign the lack of hole bleach to the presence of ultrafast hole trapping in samples with insufficient passivation of the QD surface. In addition, we show measurements of optical gain in core-shell-shell QD solutions, providing clear evidence of a significant hole contribution to the BE transient absorption signal. Finally, we present spectroelectrochemical measurements on CdTe QDs films, showing the presence of a BE-bleach for both electron and hole injections. The presence of a contribution of holes to the bleach in passivated Cd-chalcogenides QDs bears important implications for quantitative studies on optical gain as well as for TA determinations of carrier dynamics.