Polarized light emission by deposition of aligned semiconductor nanorods

Abstract

The ability to control the position and orientation of nanorods in a device is interesting both from a scientific and a technological point of view. Because semiconductor nanorods exhibit anisotropic absorption, and spontaneous and stimulated emission, aligning individual NRs to a preferred axis is attractive for many applications in photonics such as solar cells, light-emitting devices, optical sensors, switches, etc. Electric-field-driven deposition from colloidal suspensions has proven to be an efficient method for the controlled positioning and alignment of anisotropic particles. In this work, we present a novel technique for the homogeneous deposition and alignment of CdSe/CdS NRs on a glass substrate patterned with transparent indium tin oxide interdigitated electrodes, with a spacing of a few micrometers. This method is based on applying a strong AC electric field over the electrodes during a dip-coating procedure and subsequent evaporation of the solvent. The reproducible and homogeneous deposition on large substrates is required for large size applications such as solar cells or OLEDs. The accumulation, alignment, and polarized fluorescence of the nanorods as a function of the electrical field during deposition are investigated. A preferential alignment with an order parameter of 0.92 has been achieved.