Experimental investigation of energy transfer between CdSe/ZnS quantum dots and different-sized gold nanoparticles

Abstract

Hybrid nanostructures of quantum dots(QDs) and metallic nanostructure are attractive for future use in a variety of optoelectronic devices. For photodetection applications, it is important that the photoluminescence (PL) of QDs is quenched by the metallic nanostructures. Here, the quenching efficiency of CdSe/ZnS core-shell quantum dots (QDs) with different sized gold nanoparticles (NPs) films through energy transfer is investigated by measuring the PL intensity of the hybrid nanostructures. In our research, the gold NPs films are formed by the post-annealing of the deposited Au films on the quartz substrate. We find that the energy transfer from the QDs to the Au NPs strongly depends on the sizes of the Au NPs. For CdSe/ZnS QDs direct contact with the Au NPs films, the largest energy transfer efficiency are detected when the resonance absorption peak of the Au NPs is nearest to the emission peak of the CdSe/ZnS QDs. However, when there is a PMMA spacer between the QDs layer and the Au NPs films, firstly, we find that the energy transfer efficiency is weakened, and the largest energy transfer efficiency is obtained when the resonant absorption peak of the Au NPs is farthest to the emission peak wavelength of CdSe/ZnS QDs. These results will be useful for the potential design of the high efficiency QDs optoelectronic devices.