Chunfeng Cai

Physical approaches to tuning the luminescence color patterns of colloidal quantum dots

Localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) and photoactivation (PA) effects are combined for the tuning of fluorescent colors of colloidal CdSe quantum dots (QDs). It is found that LSPR with QD emitters intensely enhances surface state emission, accompanied by a remarkable red-shift of fluorescent colors, while PA treatment with colloidal QDs leads to a distinct enhancement of band-edge emission, accompanied by a peak blue-shift. Furthermore, the LSPR effect on QD emitters can be continuously tuned by the PA process. The combination of the post-synthetic approaches allows feasible realization of multi-color patterns from one batch of QDs and the approaches can also be compatible with other micro-fabrication technologies of QD embossed fluorescent patterns, which undoubtedly provides a way of precisely tuning the colors of light-emitting materials and devices that use colloidal QDs.

Plasmon-enhanced mid-infrared luminescence from polar and lattice-structure-mismatched CdTe/PbTe single heterojunctions

We propose by exploring CdTe/PbTe single heterojunctions (SHs) that the abnormal enhancement of mid-infrared light emission from CdTe/PbTe heterostructures is due to coupling with surface plasmons. It is discovered that the observed intense mid-infrared luminescence in the SHs comes from the inherent polar interface character and coupling of surface plasmons localized at the metallic CdTe/PbTe interface to light emitted from the narrow gap PbTe. The finding offers an approach to manipulate mid-infrared light and to fabricate improved mid-infrared optoelectronic devices.

Band alignment determination of ZnO/PbSe heterostructure interfaces by synchrotron radiation photoelectron spectroscopy

Band offsets at ZnO/PbSe heterostructure interfaces are determined by synchrotron radiation photoelectron spectroscopy. A type-I band alignment with the valence band offset (VBO) ?EV?=?0.73?eV and conduction band offset (CBO) ?EC?=?2.36?eV is concluded for ZnO/PbSe film heterojunctions. The approach is extended to ZnO/PbSe nanocrystal (NC) heterojunctions, which reveals that band alignment can be adjusted via varying the dot size and a type-II alignment is formed when the dot size is ?5?nm. The small conduction band offset of the ZnO/PbSe film heterojunction and the tunable band alignment of the ZnO/PbSe NCs heterojunction with different crystal sizes shall benefit the design and fabrication of improved optoelectronic devices.

Resonant nature of intrinsic defect energy levels in PbTe revealed by infrared photoreflectance spectroscopy

Step-scan Fourier-transform infrared photoreflectance and modulated photoluminescence spectroscopy were used to characterize the optical transitions of the epitaxial PbTe thin film grown by molecular beam epitaxy on BaF2 (111) substrate in the vicinity of energy gap of lead telluride at 77 K. It is found that the intrinsic defect energy levels in the electronic structure are of resonant nature. The Te-vacancy energy level is located above the conduction band minimum by 29.1 meV. Another defect (VX) energy level situated below valance band maximum by 18.1 meV is also revealed. Whether it is associated with the Pb vacancy is still not clear. It might also be related to the misfit dislocations stemming from the lattice mismatch between PbTe and BaF2 substrate. The experimental results support the theory prediction (N. J. Parada and G. W. Pratt, Jr., Phys. Rev. Lett. 22, 180 (1969), N. J. Parada, Phys. Rev. B 3, 2042 (1971)) and are consistent with the reported Hall experimental results (G. Bauer, H. Burkhard, H. Heinrich, and A. Lopez-Otero, J. Appl. Phys. 47, 1721 (1976)).

Twisted ZB?CdTe/RS?PbTe (111) heterojunction as a metastable interface structure

The heterostructures of (zinc-blende)-CdTe/(rock-salt)-PbTe are typically found to have their common cubic axes aligned to each other, as in the case of PbTe quantum dots embedded in a CdTe matrix. In this work, we perform both theoretical and experimental studies on the CdTe/PbTe heterostructure in a different geometry: a planar CdTe/PbTe (111) heterostructure. We simulate the epitaxial growth of CdTe (PbTe) on the (111) PbTe (CdTe) substrate, using a density-functional theory. A twisted CdTe/PbTe (111) interface structure has been predicted in the layer-by-layer epitaxial growth on the (111) substrate, in contrast to the non-twisted CdTe/PbTe (111) interface reported in the literature. This predicted structure has been confirmed experimentally in the heterostructure grown by molecular beam epitaxy, using a high-resolution transmission electron microscope. The twisted interface has a lower binding energy than the non- twisted one, indicating that the twisted structure is a metastable phase formed in

Enhanced photoluminescence properties of bismuth sulfide nanocrystals with core-shell Ag@SiO 2

A novel self-assembled hybrid nanocompound consisting of bismuth sulfide nanocrystals (Bi₂S₃ NCs) and Ag@SiO₂ nanoparticles (NPs) is used to study the enhancement of photoluminescence by localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR). Ag@SiO₂ core-shell NPs were prepared by deposition of silica onto the surface of Ag NPs through the sol-gel method and followed by surface modification via 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane for the coming conjugation with Bi₂S₃ NCs. We propose the photoluminescence enhancement by the LSPR effect through adjusting the thickness of silica shell and the Ag@SiO₂ NP concentration. By modulating the thickness of the silica shell and the concentration of Ag NPs, the maximum enhancement of a 5.7 fold can be reached with the thickness of an SiO₂ shell at 22.5 nm. A clear red shift of the emission peaks in the Bi₂S₃ NCs-Ag@SiO₂ NPs hybrid structures is observed. Such a metal-enhanced Bi₂S₃ quantum dot (QD) fluorescence system may have promising applications in optoelectronic device.

Enhancement of light emission from nanostructured In 2 O 3 via surface plasmons

We report the construction of In(2)O(3)/Ag/In(2)O(3) sandwich nanostructures and realization of effective coupling with surface plasmon (SP) modes. An enhancement of photoluminescence as large as 278-fold is achieved for the new nanostructures, while only eightfold is obtained from bilayer structures. The advancement of the nanostructures is that both the frequency of incidence photons and the in-plane wavevector of the excited SP modes along each side of the sandwiched nanometer metal layer are identical, thus the momenta mismatch between two SP modes which inevitably occurs in commonly used metal/dielectric bilayer structures is no longer a problem. The fulfillment of the cross coupling and resonance conditions of the two SP modes leads to the tremendous amplification of light emission. Such sandwich nanostructures can be readily extended to other dielectric/metal/dielectric nanomaterial combinations and identified as technologically useful for SP mediated light emitting devices.

Phonon blocking by two dimensional electron gas in polar CdTe/PbTe heterojunctions

Narrow-gap lead telluride crystal is an important thermoelectric and mid-infrared material in which phonon functionality is a critical issue to be explored. In this Letter, efficient phonon blockage by forming a polar CdTe/PbTe heterojunction is explicitly observed by Raman scattering. The unique phonon screening effect can be interpreted by recent discovery of high-density two dimensional electrons at the polar CdTe/PbTe(111) interface which paves a way for design and fabrication of thermoelectric devices.

Plasmonically-enhanced mid-infrared photoluminescence in a metal/narrow-gap semiconductor structure

We report the enhancement of the mid-infrared (MIR) luminescence intensity in a nanoscale metal/semiconductor structure by the coupling of surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) with excitons in a narrow-gap semiconductor. The SPPs are efficiently excited by the total internal reflection photons at a metal/semiconductor interface. The intense electric field induced by SPPs, in turn, greatly changes the radiative recombination rates of the excitons generated by the pumping laser and thus the MIR luminescence intensity. The finding avails the understanding of fundamental science of SPs in narrow-gap semiconductors and the development of novel MIR devices.