Effect of dielectric constant on the exciton ground state energy of CdSe quantum dots

Abstract

The B-spline technique is used in the calculation of the exciton ground state energy based on the effective mass approximation (EMA) model. The exciton is confined in CdSe microspherical crystallites with a finite-height potential wall (dots). In this approach, (a) the wave function is allowed to penetrate to the outside of the dots; (b) the dielectric constants of the quantum dot and the surrounding material are considered to be different; and (c) the dielectric constant of the dots are size-dependent. The exciton energies as functions of radii of the dots in the range 0.5-3.5 nm are calculated and compared with experimental and previous theoretical data. The results show that: (1) The exciton energy is convergent as the radius of the dot becomes very small. (2) A good agreement with the experimental data better than other theoretical results is achieved. (3) The penetration (or leaking) of the wave function and the difference of the dielectric constants in different regions are necessary for correcting the Coulomb interaction energy and reproducing experimental data. (4) The EMA model with B-spline technique can describe the status of excition confined in quantum dot very well.