High-performance CdSe/CdS@ZnO quantum dots enabled by ZnO sol as surface ligands: A novel strategy for improved optical properties and stability

Abstract

Colloidal semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) have attracted great attention in field of optoelectronic devices. However, the surface organic ligands of QDs involving in optical instability and limited passivation remain challenging, thus bringing additional difficulties in practical application. Here, the high-performance CdSe/CdS@ZnO QDs were successfully prepared by ZnO sol as surface ligands. Importantly, this kind of CdSe/CdS@ZnO QDs maintained the typical advantages of conventional QDs, such as superior monodispersity and long-term storage stability in solution. Because of the effective surface passivation provided by inorganic sol ligands and the deionization effect that electron transferring from surface state of QDs to ZnO acceptor, CdSe/CdS@ZnO QDs showed the remarkably enhanced photostability and biexciton lifetime, as well as further suppressed Auger process and PL blinking. Meanwhile, the CdSe/CdS@ZnO QDs demonstrated PL thermal stability much higher than that of pristine CdSe/CdS QDs under heating to 100 °C, which was efficiently improved 3 times that from ~20% to ~63% of their initial emission intensity. Moreover, a stable amplified spontaneous emission process was observed in CdSe/CdS@ZnO QDs film and still retained a lower ASE threshold (~28 μJ cm−2). Finally, we successfully fabricated a high-performance vertical cavity surface-emitting laser based on CdSe/CdS@ZnO QDs, which presented spatially directional single-mode lasing output with an ultralow threshold of ~3.3 μJ cm−2. We believe that this work could not only enrich the family of surface ligands passivated semiconductor QDs but also provide a novel strategy towards constructing stable and functionalized colloidal nanomaterials for all-inorganic optoelectronic devices.