Taming quantum dots’ nucleation and growth enables stable and efficient blue-light-emitting devices

Abstract

Controlling quantum dots’ emission, nanostructure, and energy level alignment to achieve stable and efficient blue emission is of great significance for electroluminescence devices but remains a challenge. Here, a series of blue ZnCdSeS/ZnS quantum dots was optimized in preparation by taming their nucleation and growth kinetics. Controlling anion precursor reactive properties to modulate quantum dots’ nucleation and growth tailors their alloy core and continuous gradient energy band nanostructure. These results not only elevate the thermal stability of blue quantum dots but also further enhance the injection/transportation of carriers and improve the radiative recombination efficiency in the device. The blue ZnCdSeS/ZnS quantum dots applied in light-emitting devices show superior performance, including maximum current efficiency and external quantum efficiency of, respectively, 8.2 cd/A and 15.8% for blue, 2.6 cd/A and 10.0% for blue-violet, and 10.9 cd/A and 13.4% for sky-blue devices. The blue and sky-blue devices exhibit lifetimes of more than 10,000 h. The proposed methodology for tailoring quantum dots is expected to pave new guidelines for further facilitating visible optoelectronic device exploration.