Dipolar Ligands Tune Plasmonic Properties of Tin-Doped Indium Oxide Nanocrystals.

Surface functionalization with dipolar molecules is known to tune the electronic band alignment in semiconductor films and colloidal quantum dots. Yet, the influence of surface modification on plasmonic nanocrystals and their properties remains little explored. Here, we functionalize tin-doped indium oxide nanocrystals (ITO NCs) via ligand exchange with a series of cinnamic acids with different electron-withdrawing and -donating dipolar characters. Consistent with previous reports on semiconductors, we find that withdrawing (donating) ligands increase (decrease) the work function caused by an electrostatic potential shift across the molecular layer. Quantitative analyses of the plasmonic extinction spectra reveal that varying the ligand molecular dipole affects the near-surface depletion layer, with an anticorrelated trend between the electron concentration and electronic volume fraction, factors that are positively correlated in as-synthesized NCs. Electronic structure engineering through surface modification provides access to distinctive combinations of plasmonic properties that could enable optoelectronic applications, sensing, and hot electron-driven processes.

Plasmonic Response of Complex Nanoparticle Assemblies.

Optical properties of nanoparticle assemblies reflect distinctive characteristics of their building blocks and spatial organization, giving rise to emergent phenomena. Integrated experimental and computational studies have established design principles connecting the structure to properties for assembled clusters and superlattices. However, conventional electromagnetic simulations are too computationally expensive to treat more complex assemblies. Here we establish a fast, materials agnostic method to simulate the optical response of large nanoparticle assemblies incorporating both structural and compositional complexity. This many-bodied, mutual polarization method resolves limitations of established approaches, achieving rapid, accurate convergence for configurations including thousands of nanoparticles, with some overlapping. We demonstrate these capabilities by reproducing experimental trends and uncovering far- and near-field mechanisms governing the optical response of plasmonic semiconductor nanocrystal assemblies including structurally complex gel networks and compositionally complex mixed binary superlattices. This broadly applicable framework will facilitate the design of complex, hierarchically structured, and dynamic assemblies for desired optical characteristics.

Modular mixing in plasmonic metal oxide nanocrystal gels with thermoreversible links.

Gelation offers a powerful strategy to assemble plasmonic nanocrystal networks incorporating both the distinctive optical properties of constituent building blocks and customizable collective properties. Beyond what a single-component assembly can offer, the characteristics of nanocrystal networks can be tuned in a broader range when two or more components are intimately combined. Here, we demonstrate mixed nanocrystal gel networks using thermoresponsive metal-terpyridine links that enable rapid gel assembly and disassembly with thermal cycling. Plasmonic indium oxide nanocrystals with different sizes, doping concentrations, and shapes are reliably intermixed in linked gel assemblies, exhibiting collective infrared absorption that reflects the contributions of each component while also deviating systematically from a linear combination of the spectra for single-component gels. We extend a many-bodied, mutual polarization method to simulate the optical response of mixed nanocrystal gels, reproducing the experimental trends with no free parameters and revealing that spectral deviations originate from cross-coupling between nanocrystals with distinct plasmonic properties. Our thermoreversible linking strategy directs the assembly of mixed nanocrystal gels with continuously tunable far- and near-field optical properties that are distinct from those of the building blocks or mixed close-packed structures.

Optically Cooling Cesium Lead Tribromide Nanocrystals.

One photon up-conversion photoluminescence is an optical phenomenon whereby the thermal energy of a fluorescent material increases the energy of an emitted photon compared with the energy of the photon that was absorbed. When this occurs with near unity efficiency, the emitting material undergoes a net decrease in temperature, so-called optical cooling. Because the up-conversion mechanism is thermally activated, the yield of up-converted photoluminescence is also a reporter of the temperature of the emitter. Taking advantage of this optical signature, cesium lead trihalide nanocrystals are shown to cool during the up-conversion of 532 nm CW laser excitation. Raman thermometric analysis of a substrate on which the nanocrystals were deposited further verifies the decrease in the local environmental temperature by as much as 25 °C during optical pumping. This is the first demonstration of optical cooling driven by colloidal semiconductor nanocrystal up-conversion.

Au Exchange or Au Deposition: Dual Reaction Pathways in Au-CsPbBr3 Heterostructure Nanoparticles.

We have designed a facile synthetic strategy for the selective deposition of Au metal on all-inorganic CsPbBr3 perovskite nanocrystals that includes the addition of PbBr2 salt along with AuBr3 salt. PbBr2 is necessary because the addition of Au3+ to solutions of CsPbBr3 nanocrystals otherwise results in the exchange of Au3+ ions from solution with Pb2+ cations within the nanocrystal lattice to produce Cs2AuIAuIIIBr6 nanocrystals with a tetragonal crystal structure and a band gap of about 1.6 eV, in addition to Au metal deposition. Including excess Pb2+ ions in solution prevents the exchange reaction. Au metal deposits on the surface of the nanocrystals to produce the Au-CsPbBr3 heterostructure nanoparticles with an Au particle diameter determined by the Au3+ ion concentration. Fluorescence quenching caused by Au deposition monotonically increases with deposition size, but the fluorescence quantum yield (QY) is significantly greater than if any cation exchange has occurred. An optimized synthesis can produce Au-CsPbBr3 nanoparticles with 70% QY and no evidence of cation exchange.

Exciton-to-Dopant Energy Transfer in Mn-Doped Cesium Lead Halide Perovskite Nanocrystals.

We report the one-pot synthesis of colloidal Mn-doped cesium lead halide (CsPbX3) perovskite nanocrystals and efficient intraparticle energy transfer between the exciton and dopant ions resulting in intense sensitized Mn luminescence. Mn-doped CsPbCl3 and CsPb(Cl/Br)3 nanocrystals maintained the same lattice structure and crystallinity as their undoped counterparts with nearly identical lattice parameters at ∼0.2% doping concentrations and no signature of phase separation. The strong sensitized luminescence from d-d transition of Mn2+ ions upon band-edge excitation of the CsPbX3 host is indicative of sufficiently strong exchange coupling between the charge carriers of the host and dopant d electrons mediating the energy transfer, essential for obtaining unique properties of magnetically doped quantum dots. Highly homogeneous spectral characteristics of Mn luminescence from an ensemble of Mn-doped CsPbX3 nanocrystals and well-defined electron paramagnetic resonance spectra of Mn2+ in host CsPbX3 nanocrystal lattices suggest relatively uniform doping sites, likely from substitutional doping at Pb2+. These observations indicate that CsPbX3 nanocrystals, possessing many superior optical and electronic characteristics, can be utilized as a new platform for magnetically doped quantum dots expanding the range of optical, electronic, and magnetic functionality.

Thermal Activation of Anti-Stokes Photoluminescence in CsPbBr3 Perovskite Nanocrystals: The Role of Surface Polaron States.

Optically driven cooling of a material, or optical refrigeration, is possible when optical up-conversion via anti-Stokes photoluminescence (ASPL) is achieved with near-unity quantum yield. The recent demonstration of optical cooling of CsPbBr3 perovskite nanocrystals (NCs) has provided a path forward in the development of semiconductor-based optical refrigeration strategies. However, the mechanism of ASPL in CsPbBr3 NCs is not yet settled, and the prospects for cooling technologies strongly depend on details of the mechanism. By analyzing the Arrhenius behavior of ASPL in CsPbBr3 NCs, we investigated the relationship between the average energy gained per photon during up conversion, ΔE, and the thermal activation energy, Ea. We find that Ea is systematically larger than ΔE, and that Ea increases for larger ΔE. We suggest that the additional energetic cost is due to a rearrangement of the crystal lattice as charge carriers pass from surface localized, structurally distinct sub-gap polaron states to the free exciton state during up-conversion. Our interpretation is further corroborated by quantifying the impact of ligand coverage on the NC surface. These findings help inform the development of CsPbBr3 NCs for applications in optical refrigeration.

Surface-Enhanced Infrared Absorption Spectroscopy by Resonant Vibrational Coupling with Plasmonic Metal Oxide Nanocrystals.

Coupling between plasmonic resonances and molecular vibrations in nanocrystals (NCs) offers a promising approach for detecting molecules at low concentrations and discerning their chemical identities. Metallic NC superlattices can enhance vibrational signals under far-field detection by generating a myriad of intensified electric field hot spots between the NCs. Yet, their effectiveness is limited by the fixed electron concentration dictated by the metal composition and inefficient hot spot creation due to the large mode volume. Doped metal oxide NCs, such as tin-doped indium oxide (ITO), could overcome these limitations by enabling broad tunability of resonance frequencies in the mid-infrared range through independent variation of size and doping concentration. This study investigates the potential of close-packed ITO NC monolayers for surface-enhanced infrared absorption by quantifying trends in the coupling between their plasmon modes and various molecular vibrations. We show that maximum vibrational signal intensity occurs in monolayers composed of larger, more highly doped NCs, where the plasmon resonance peak lies at higher frequency than the molecular vibration. Using finite element and mutual polarization methods, we establish that near-field enhancement is stronger on the low-frequency side of the plasmon resonance and for more strongly coupled plasmonic NCs, thus rationalizing the design rules we experimentally uncovered. Our results can guide the development of optimal metal oxide NC-based superstructures for sensing target molecules or modifying their chemical properties through vibrational coupling.

Wavelength Tunable Infrared Perfect Absorption in Plasmonic Nanocrystal Monolayers.

The ability to efficiently absorb light in ultrathin (subwavelength) layers is essential for modern electro-optic devices, including detectors, sensors, and nonlinear modulators. Tailoring these ultrathin films' spectral, spatial, and polarimetric properties is highly desirable for many, if not all, of the above applications. Doing so, however, often requires costly lithographic techniques or exotic materials, limiting scalability. Here we propose, demonstrate, and analyze a mid-infrared absorber architecture leveraging monolayer films of nanoplasmonic colloidal tin-doped indium oxide nanocrystals (ITO NCs). We fabricate a series of ITO NC monolayer films using the liquid-air interface method; by synthetically varying the Sn dopant concentration in the NCs, we achieve spectrally selective perfect absorption tunable between wavelengths of two and five micrometers. We achieve monolayer thickness-controlled coupling strength tuning by varying NC size, allowing access to different coupling regimes. Furthermore, we synthesize a bilayer film that enables broadband absorption covering the entire midwave IR region (λ = 3-5 µm). We demonstrate a scalable platform, with perfect absorption in monolayer films only hundredths of a wavelength in thickness, enabling strong light-matter interaction, with potential applications for molecular detection and ultrafast nonlinear optical applications.

The role of gold oxidation state in the synthesis of Au-CsPbX3 heterostructure or lead-free Cs2AuIAuIIIX6 perovskite nanoparticles.

Here, we report that the oxidation state of gold plays a dominant role in determining the reaction products when gold halide salts are mixed with all-inorganic lead halide perovskite nanocrystals. When CsPbX3 nanocrystals react with Au(i) halide salts, Au nanoparticles are deposited on the surface of the perovskites through the reduction of Au1+ ions by the surfactant ligand shell, to produce Au-CsPbX3 heterostructures. These heterostructures preserve comparably high photoluminescence quantum yield (PLQY) and show identical XRD diffractograms as the parent CsPbX3 nanocrystals. In contrast, the reaction of CsPbX3 nanocrystals with Au(iii) halide salts promotes complete cation exchange of Pb ions by Au ions in the nanocrystal perovskite lattice. The cation exchange products, Cs2AuIAuIIIBr6 or Cs2AuIAuIIICl6, show XRD patterns corresponding to a tetragonal mixed halide perovskite crystal structure and show no visible photoluminescence. This crucial dependence on the oxidation state of the Au ion informs synthetic strategies for producing and optimizing metal-perovskite heterostructures and lead-free perovskite nanoparticles.

The role of mid-gap states in all-inorganic CsPbBr3 nanoparticle one photon up-conversion.

CsPbBr3 nanoparticles that have been treated with NH4SCN to produce essentially trap-free surfaces show an increase of one photon up-conversion quantum yield with little change to the up-conversion energy of activation, as estimated using an Arrhenius analysis. This suggests that mid-gap trap states constitute a loss pathway, and may not be integral to the one-photon excitation mechanism.