A Fast-Response Ultraviolet Phototransistor with a PVK QDs/ZnO Nanowire Heterostructure and Its Application in Pharmaceutical Solute Detection.

The sensitivity and photoelectric noise of UV photodetectors are challenges that need to be overcome in pharmaceutical solute detection applications. This paper presents a new device concept for a CsPbBr3 QDs/ZnO nanowire heterojunction structure for phototransistors. The lattice match of the CsPbBr3 QDs and ZnO nanowire reduces the generation of trap centers and avoids carrier absorption by the composite center, which greatly improves the carrier mobility and high detectivity (8.13 × 1014 Jones). It is worth noting that by using high-efficiency PVK quantum dots as the intrinsic sensing core, the device has a high responsivity (6381 A/W) and responsivity frequency (300 Hz). Thus, a UV detection system for pharmaceutical solute detection is demonstrated, and the type of solute in the chemical solution is estimated by the waveform and the size of the output 2f signals.

Localized Surface Plasmon-Enhanced Infrared-to-Visible Upconversion Devices Induced by Ag Nanoparticles.

Upconversion devices (UCDs) have motivated tremendous research interest with their excellent potential and promising application in photovoltaic sensors, semiconductor wafer detection, biomedicine, and light conversion devices, especially near-infrared-(NIR)-to-visible upconversion devices. In this research, a UCD that directly turned NIR light located at 1050 nm into visible light located at 530 nm was fabricated to investigate the underlying working mechanism of UCDs. The simulation and experimental results of this research proved the existence of the quantum tunneling phenomenon in UCDs and found that the quantum tunneling effect can be enhanced by a localized surface plasmon.

Tailoring Nanostructures of Quantum Dots toward Efficient and Stable All-Solution Processed Quantum Dot Light-Emitting Diodes.

Quantum dots (QDs) light-emitting diodes (QLEDs) are considered the most promising candidate for application in displays. While the efficiency of QLEDs has been greatly developed in recent years and is comparable to that of organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs), it still remains challenging to realize both high efficiency and long lifetimes. In this work, we report efficient and stable red QLEDs with the maximum current efficiency of 13.48 cd A-1, external quantum efficiency of 18.65%, and low efficiency roll-off at high luminance with a long lifetime exceeding ∼2.9 × 105 h, representing a 3-fold increase in stability. Tailoring the composition of QDs suppresses nonradiative Förster resonant energy transfer and Auger recombination and provides favorable valence band alignment to boost the hole injection. Our work suggests that tailoring the nanostructures of QDs offers an effective means to simultaneously achieve high efficiency and high stability, accelerating QLED technology for practical applications in displays and lighting.

Boosting the efficiency of inverted quantum dot light-emitting diodes by balancing charge densities and suppressing exciton quenching through band alignment.

We report an inverted and multilayer quantum dot light emitting diode (QLED) which boosts high efficiency by tuning the energy band alignment between charge transport and light emitting layers. The electron transport layer (ETL) was ZnO nanoparticles (NPs) with an optimized doping concentration of cesium azide (CsN3) to effectively reduce electron flow and balance charge injection. This is by virtue of a 0.27 eV upshift of the ETL's conduction band edge, which inhibits the quenching of excitons and preserves the superior emissive properties of the quantum dots due to the insulating characteristics of CsN3. The demonstrated QLED exhibits a peak current efficiency, power efficiency and external quantum efficiency of up to 13.5 cd A-1, 10.6 lm W-1 and 13.4% for the red QLED, and correspondingly 43.1 cd A-1, 33.6 lm W-1 and 9.1% for green, and 4.1 cd A-1, 2.0 lm W-1 and 6.6% for the blue counterparts. Compared with QLEDs without optimization, the performance of these modified devices shows drastic improvement by 95.6%, 39.4% and 36.7%, respectively. This novel device architecture with heterogeneous energy levels reported here offers a new design strategy for next-generation high efficiency QLED displays and solid-state lighting technologies.

High-performance quantum dot light-emitting diodes with hybrid hole transport layer via doping engineering.

Here, we report on the hybrid hole transport materials 4,4'-bis-(carbazole-9-yl)biphenyl (CBP) or poly-N-vinylcarbazole (PVK) doped into poly(4-butyl-phenyl-diphenyl-amine) (Poly-TPD) as the hybrid hole transport layer (HTL) to tailor the energy band alignment between hole injection layer (HIL) and quantum dot (QD) light emitting layer in order to realize efficient quantum dot light emitting diodes (QLEDs) in all solution-processed fabrication. Compared to the pristine Poly-TPD based device, it is found that the electroluminescence (EL) performance of QLEDs can be significantly improved by 1.5 fold via addition of CBP into Poly-TPD, which can be attributed to the lowered highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) level of Poly-TPD to reduce the energy barrier between HTL and valance band (VB) of QDs. Thus, after doping small molecules into polymer under optimized proportion (Poly-TPD:CBP = 2:1 by weight), the hole transport rate can be balanced, facilitating the carrier injection from HTL to QDs and enhancing the efficiency of QLEDs. As a result, a maximum luminance, a maximum current efficiency and a maximum power efficiency of 7600 cd/m2, 5.41 cd/A and 4.25 lm/W can be obtained based on this variety of hybrid HTL employed QLEDs.

Surface plasmon-enhanced quantum dot light-emitting diodes by incorporating gold nanoparticles.

Surface plasmon-enhanced electroluminescence (EL) has been demonstrated by incorporating gold (Au) nanoparticles (NPs) in quantum dot light-emitting diode (QLED). Time-resolved photoluminescence (TRPL) spectroscopy reveals that the EL enhancement is ascribed to the near-field enhancement through an effective coupling between excitons of the quantum dot emitters and localized surface plasmons around Au NPs. It is found that the size of Au NPs and the distance between the Au NPs and the emissive layer have significant effects on the performance of QLED. The enhancement can be maximized as the SP resonance wavelength of Au NPs matches well with the PL emission wavelength of the QD film and the distance between Au NPs and the emissive layer maintains 15 nm. The photoluminance (PL) and EL intensity can be enhanced by 4.4 and 1.7 folds with the incorporation of Au NPs. The maximum current efficiency of 4.56 cd/A can be achieved for the resulting QLEDs by incorprating Au NPs with an enhancement factor of 2.0. In addition, the enhancement ratio of 2.2 can be achieved for the lifetime of resulting QLED.

High-Performance Photo-Modulated Thin-Film Transistor Based on Quantum dots/Reduced Graphene Oxide Fragment-Decorated ZnO Nanowires.

In this paper, a photo-modulated transistor based on the thin-film transistor structure was fabricated on the flexible substrate by spin-coating and magnetron sputtering. A novel hybrid material that composed of CdSe quantum dots and reduced graphene oxide (RGO) fragment-decorated ZnO nanowires was synthesized to overcome the narrow optical sensitive waveband and enhance the photo-responsivity. Due to the enrichment of the interface and heterostructure by RGO fragments being utilized, the photo-responsivity of the transistor was improved to 2000 A W-1 and the photo-sensitive wavelength was extended from ultraviolet to visible. In addition, a positive back-gate voltage was employed to reduce the Schottky barrier width of RGO fragments and ZnO nanowires. As a result, the amount of carriers was increased by 10 folds via the modulation of back-gate voltage. With these inherent properties, such as integrated circuit capability and wide optical sensitive waveband, the transistor will manifest great potential in the future applications in photodetectors.

Enhanced Photoluminescence Property for Quantum Dot-Gold Nanoparticle Hybrid.

In this paper, we have synthesized ZnCdSeS quantum dots (QDs)-gold nanoparticle (Au NPs) hybrids in aqueous solution via bi-functional linker mercaptoacetic acid (MPA). The absorption peaks of ZnCdSeS QDs and Au are both located at 520 nm. It is investigated that PL intensity of QD-Au hybrid can be affected by the amounts of Au and pH value of hybrid solution. The located surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) effect of QD-Au NPs has been demonstrated by increased fluorescence intensity. The phenomenon of fluorescence enhancement can be maximized under the optimized pH value of 8.5. LSPR-enhanced photoluminescence property of QD-Au hybrid will be beneficial for the potential applications in the area of biological imaging and detection.