Electrical Tuning of Optical Properties of Quantum Dot–Graphene Hybrid Devices: Interplay of Charge and Energy Transfer

Abstract

The combination of semiconductor quantum dots (QD) and single-layer graphene (SLG) can lead to the formation of optoelectronic devices with enhanced sensitivity and can have extensive applications in the field of the photodetector and photovoltaics. The optical properties of the resultant hybrid material are controlled by the interplay of energy transfer between QDs and charge transfer between the QDs and SLG. By studying the steady-state and time-resolved photoluminescence spectroscopy of hybrid QD–SLG devices, we observe a subtle interplay of short- and long-range energy transfer between cadmium selenide (CdSe) QDs in a compact monolayer solid film placed in close proximity to an SLG and the charge transfer from the QD solid to SLG. At larger separation, δ, between the compact monolayer QD and SLG, the emission properties are dominated by mutual energy transfer between the QDs. At relatively smaller separation the emission from QDs, which is strongly quenched, is dominated by charge transfer between QDs and SLG. In addition, we are also able to tune the relative strength of energy and charge transfer by electrostatic doping through the back gate voltage, which provides a novel pathway to tune emission properties of these devices for possible applications as photodetectors, in photovoltaics, and for sensing.