Issue 18, 2023

Optical properties of NIR photoluminescent PbS nanocrystal-based three-dimensional networks

Abstract

The assembly of nanocrystals (NCs) into three-dimensional network structures is a recently established strategy to produce macroscopic materials with nanoscopic properties. These networks can be formed by the controlled destabilization of NC colloids and subsequent supercritical drying to obtain NC-based aerogels. Even though this strategy has been used for many different semiconductor NCs, the emission of NC-based aerogels is limited to the ultraviolet and visible and no near-infrared (NIR) emitting NC-based aerogels have been investigated in literature until now. In the present work we have optimized a gelation route of NIR emitting PbS and PbS/CdS quantum dots (QDs) by means of a recently established gel formation method using trivalent ions to induce the network formation. Thereby, depending on the surface ligands and QDs used the resulting network structure is different. We propose, that the ligand affinity to the nanocrystal surface plays an essential role during network formation, which is supported by theoretical calculations. The optical properties were investigated with a focus on their steady-state and time resolved photoluminescence (PL). Unlike in PbS/CdS aerogels, the absorption of PbS aerogels and their PL shift strongly. For all aerogels the PL lifetimes are reduced in comparison to those of the building blocks with this reduction being especially pronounced in the PbS aerogels.

Graphical abstract: Optical properties of NIR photoluminescent PbS nanocrystal-based three-dimensional networks

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
09 Jūn. 2023
Accepted
25 Jūl. 2023
First published
14 Aug. 2023
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY license

Nanoscale Adv., 2023,5, 5005-5014

Optical properties of NIR photoluminescent PbS nanocrystal-based three-dimensional networks

D. Pluta, H. Kuper, R. T. Graf, C. Wesemann, P. Rusch, J. A. Becker and N. C. Bigall, Nanoscale Adv., 2023, 5, 5005 DOI: 10.1039/D3NA00404J

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications without requesting further permissions from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements