Surface Modification of CdE (E: S, Se, and Te) Nanoplatelets to Reach Thicker Nanoplatelets and Homostructures with Confinement-Induced Intraparticle Type I Energy Level Alignment.

Two-dimensional II-VI semiconductor nanoplatelets (NPLs) present exceptionally narrow optical features due to their thickness defined at the atomic scale. Because thickness drives the band-edge energy, its control is of paramount importance. Here, we demonstrate that native carboxylate ligands can be replaced by halides that partially dissolve cadmium chalcogenide NPLs at the edges. The released monomers then recrystallize on the wide top and bottom facets, leading to an increase in NPL thickness. This dissolution/recrystallization method is used to increase NPL thickness to 9 ML while using 3 ML NPLs as the starting material. We also demonstrate that this method is not limited to CdSe and can be extended to CdS and CdTe to grow thick NPLs. When the metal halide precursor is introduced with a chalcogenide precursor on the NPLs, CdSe/CdSe, CdTe/CdTe, and CdSe/CdTe core/shell homo- and heterostructures are achieved. Finally, when an incomplete layer is grown, NPLs with steps are synthesized. These stress-free homostructures are comparable to type I heterostructures, leading to recombination of the exciton in the thicker area of the NPLs. Following the growth of core/crown and core/shell NPLs, it affords a new degree of freedom for the growth of structured NPLs with designed band engineering, which has so far been only achievable for heteromaterial nanostructures.

Nanoplatelet-Based Light-Emitting Diode and Its Use in All-Nanocrystal LiFi-like Communication.

Now that colloidal nanocrystals (NCs) have been integrated as green and red sources for liquid crystal displays, the next challenge for quantum dots is their use in electrically driven light-emitting diodes (LEDs). Among various colloidal NCs, nanoplatelets (NPLs) have appeared as promising candidates for light-emitting devices because their two-dimensional shape allows a narrow luminescence spectrum, directional emission, and high light extraction. To reach high quantum efficiency, it is critical to grow core/shell structures. High temperature growth of the shells seems to be a better strategy than previously reported low-temperature approaches to obtain bright NPLs. Here, we synthesize CdSe/CdZnS core/shell NPLs whose shell alloy content is tuned to optimize the charge injection in the LED structure. The obtained LED has exceptionally low turn-on voltage, long-term stability (>3100 h at 100 cd m-2), external quantum efficiency above 5%, and luminance up to 35,000 cd m-2. We study the low-temperature performance of the LED and find that there is a delay of droop in terms of current density as temperature decreases. In the last part of the paper, we design a large LED (56 mm2 emitting area) and test its potential for LiFi-like communication. In such an approach, the LED is not only a lightning source but also used to transmit a communication signal to a PbS quantum dot solar cell used as a broadband photodetector. Operating conditions compatible with both lighting and information transfer have been identified. This work paves the way toward an all NC-based communication setup.

Fine Structure and Spin Dynamics of Linearly Polarized Indirect Excitons in Two-Dimensional CdSe/CdTe Colloidal Heterostructures.

Heterostructured two-dimensional colloidal nanoplatelets are a class of material that has attracted great interest for optoelectronic applications due to their high photoluminescence yield, atomically tunable thickness, and ultralow lasing thresholds. Of particular interest are laterally heterostructured core-crown nanoplatelets with a type-II band alignment, where the in-plane spatial separation of carriers leads to indirect (or charge transfer) excitons with long lifetimes and bright, highly Stokes shifted emission. Despite this, little is known about the nature of the lowest energy exciton states responsible for emission in these materials. Here, using polarization-controlled, steady-state, and time-resolved photoluminescence measurements, at temperatures down to 1.6 K and magnetic fields up to 30 T, we study the exciton fine structure and spin dynamics of archetypal type-II CdSe/CdTe core-crown nanoplatelets. Complemented by theoretical modeling and zero-field quantum beat measurements, we find the bright-exciton fine structure consists of two linearly polarized states with a fine structure splitting ∼50 µeV and an indirect exciton Landé g-factor of 0.7. In addition, we show the exciton spin lifetime to be in the microsecond range with an unusual B-3 magnetic field dependence. The discovery of linearly polarized exciton states and emission highlights the potential for use of such materials in display and imaging applications without polarization filters. Furthermore, the small exciton fine structure splitting and a long spin lifetime are fundamental advantages when envisaging CdSe/CdTe nanoplatelets as elementary bricks for the next generation of quantum devices, particularly given their ease of fabrication.

Halide Ligands To Release Strain in Cadmium Chalcogenide Nanoplatelets and Achieve High Brightness.

Zinc blende II-VI semiconductor nanoplatelets (NPLs) are defined at the atomic scale along the thickness of the nanoparticle and are initially capped with carboxylates on the top and bottom [001] facets. These ligands are exchanged on CdSe NPLs with halides that act as X-L-type ligands. These CdSe NPLs are costabilized by amines to provide colloidal stability in nonpolar solvents. The hydrogen from the amine can participate in a hydrogen bond with the lone pair electrons of surface halides. After ligand exchange, the optical features are red-shifted. Thus, ligand tuning is another way, in addition to confinement, to tune the optical features of NPLs. The improved surface passivation leads to an increase in the fluorescence quantum efficiency of up to 70% in the case of bromide. However, for chloride and iodide, the surface coverage is incomplete, and thus, the fluorescence quantum efficiency is lower. This ligand exchange is associated with a decrease in stress that leads to unfolding of the NPLs, which is particularly noticeable for iodide-capped NPLs.

Impact of dimensionality and confinement on the electronic properties of mercury chalcogenide nanocrystals.

We demonstrate the growth of 2D nanoplatelets (NPLs) made of a HgTe/CdS heterostructure, with an optical absorption reaching the shortwave infrared range. The material is an interesting platform to investigate the effect of dimensionality (0D vs. 2D) and confinement on the electronic spectrum and carrier dynamics in colloidal materials. We bring consistent evidence for the p-type nature of this material from transport and photoemission measurements. The majority carrier dynamics probed using pump-probe photoemission is found to be mostly dependent on the presence of a confinement barrier at the surface rather than on the material dimensionality. The minority carrier, on the other hand, is strongly affected by the material shape showing a longer lived minority carrier in 2D NPLs compared to their 0D equivalent with a similar band gap. Finally, we test the potential of this material for photodetection in the short-wave infrared range (SWIR) and show that fast photoresponse and detectivity reaching 109 Jones at room temperature can be achieved.

Doping as a Strategy to Tune Color of 2D Colloidal Nanoplatelets.

Among colloidal nanocrystals, 2D nanoplatelets (NPLs) made of II-VI compounds appear as a special class of emitters with an especially narrow photoluminescence signal. However, the PL signal in the case of NPLs is only tunable by a discrete step. Here, we demonstrate that doping is a viable path to finely tune the color of these NPLs from green to red, making them extremely interesting as phosphors for wide-gamut display. In addition, using a combination of luminescence spectroscopy, tight-binding simulation, transport, and photoemission, we provide a consistent picture for the Ag+-doped CdSe NPLs. The Ag-activated state is strongly bound and located 340 meV above the valence band of the bulk material. The Ag dopant induces a relative shift of the Fermi level toward the valence band by up to 400 meV but preserves the n-type nature of the material.

Exciton-Phonon Interactions Govern Charge-Transfer-State Dynamics in CdSe/CdTe Two-Dimensional Colloidal Heterostructures.

CdSe/CdTe core-crown type-II nanoplatelet heterostructures are two-dimensional semiconductors that have attracted interest for use in light-emitting technologies due to their ease of fabrication, outstanding emission yields, and tunable properties. Despite this, the exciton dynamics of these complex materials, and in particular how they are influenced by phonons, is not yet well understood. Here, we use a combination of femtosecond vibrational spectroscopy, temperature-resolved photoluminescence (PL), and temperature-dependent structural measurements to investigate CdSe/CdTe nanoplatelets with a thickness of four monolayers. We show that charge-transfer (CT) excitons across the CdSe/CdTe interface are formed on two distinct time scales: initially from an ultrafast (∼70 fs) electron transfer and then on longer time scales (∼5 ps) from the diffusion of domain excitons to the interface. We find that the CT excitons are influenced by an interfacial phonon mode at ∼120 cm-1, which localizes them to the interface. Using low-temperature PL spectroscopy we reveal that this same phonon mode is the dominant mechanism in broadening the CT PL. On cooling to 4 K, the total PL quantum yield reaches close to unity, with an ∼85% contribution from CT emission and the remainder from an emissive sub-band-gap state. At room temperature, incomplete diffusion of domain excitons to the interface and scattering between CT excitons and phonons limit the PL quantum yield to ∼50%. Our results provide a detailed picture of the nature of exciton-phonon interactions at the interfaces of 2D heterostructures and explain both the broad shape of the CT PL spectrum and the origin of PL quantum yield losses. Furthermore, they suggest that to maximize the PL quantum yield both improved engineering of the interfacial crystal structure and diffusion of domain excitons to the interface, e.g., by altering the relative core/crown size, are required.

Charge Dynamics and Optolectronic Properties in HgTe Colloidal Quantum Wells.

We investigate the electronic and transport properties of HgTe 2D colloidal quantum wells. We demonstrate that the material can be made p- or n-type depending on the capping ligands. In addition to the control of majority carrier type, the surface chemistry also strongly affects the photoconductivity of the material. These transport measurements are correlated with the electronic structure determined by high resolution X-ray photoemission. We attribute the change of majority carriers to the strong hybridization of an n-doped HgS layer resulting from capping the HgTe nanoplatelets by S2- ions. We further investigate the gate and temperature dependence of the photoresponse and its dynamics. We show that the photocurrent rise and fall times can be tuned from 100 µs to 1 ms using the gate bias. Finally, we use time-resolved photoemission spectroscopy as a probe of the transport relaxation to determine if the observed dynamics are limited by a fundamental process such as trapping. These pump probe surface photovoltage measurements show an even faster relaxation in the 100-500 ns range, which suggests that the current performances are rather limited by geometrical factors.