Yuan Gao

Stimulated Emission and Lasing from CdSe/CdS/ZnS Core‐Multi‐Shell Quantum Dots by Simultaneous Three‐Photon Absorption

Three-photon pumped stimulated emission and coherent random lasing from colloidal CdSe/CdS/ZnS core-multishell quantum dots are achieved for the first time. These results can offer new possibilities in biology and photonics, as well as at their intersection of biophotonics.

Blue liquid lasers from solution of CdZnS/ZnS ternary alloy quantum dots with quasi-continuous pumping

A blue (ca. 440 nm) liquid laser with an ultra-low threshold through which quasi-continuous wave pumping is accessible is achieved by engineering unconventional ternary CdZnS/ZnS alloyed-core/shell QDs. Such an achievement is enabled by exploiting the novel gain media with minimal defects, suppressed Auger recombination, and large gain cross-section in combination with high-quality-factor whispering gallery mode resonators.

Highly Flexible, Electrically Driven, Top-Emitting, Quantum Dot Light-Emitting Stickers

Flexible information displays are key elements in future optoelectronic devices. Quantum dot light-emitting diodes (QLEDs) with advantages in color quality, stability, and cost-effectiveness are emerging as a candidate for single-material, full color light sources. Despite the recent advances in QLED technology, making high-performance flexible QLEDs still remains a big challenge due to limited choices of proper materials and device architectures as well as poor mechanical stability. Here, we show highly efficient, large-area QLED tapes emitting in red, green, and blue (RGB) colors with top-emitting design and polyimide tapes as flexible substrates. The brightness and quantum efficiency are 20,000 cd/m(2) and 4.03%, respectively, the highest values reported for flexible QLEDs. Besides the excellent electroluminescence performance, these QLED films are highly flexible and mechanically robust to use as electrically driven light-emitting stickers by placing on or removing from any curved surface, facilitating versatile LED applications. Our QLED tapes present a step toward practical quantum dot based platforms for high-performance flexible displays and solid-state lighting.

Solution processed tungsten oxide interfacial layer for efficient hole-injection in quantum dot light-emitting diodes.

A highly efficient and stable QLED using an inorganic WO3 nanoparticle film as a hole injection layer is demonstrated.The resulting WO3 nanoparticle-based QLEDs also exhibit superior performance compared to that of the present PEDOT:PSS-based QLEDs. The results indicate that WO3 nanoparticles are promising solution-processed buffer layer materials and serve as a strong candidate for QLED technology towards the practical applications in the next-generation lighting and displays.

Near resonant and nonresonant third-order optical nonlinearities of colloidal InP/ZnS quantum dots

We have investigated the third-order optical nonlinearities of high-quality colloidal InP/ZnS core-shell quantum dots (QDs) using Z-scan technique with femtosecond pulses. The two-photon absorption cross-sections as high as 6.2 × 103 GM are observed at 800 nm (non-resonant regime) in InP/ZnS QDs with diameter of 2.8 nm, which is even larger than those of CdSe, CdS, and CdTe QDs at similar sizes. Furthermore, both of the 2.2 nm and 2.8 nm-sized InP/ZnS QDs exhibit strong saturable absorption in near resonant regime, which is attributed to large exciton Bohr radius in this material. These results strongly suggest the promising potential of InP/ZnS QDs for widespread applications, especially in two-photon excited bio-imaging and saturable absorbing.

Quantum Dot Light-Emitting Diode with Quantum Dots Inside the Hole Transporting Layers

We report a hybrid, quantum dot (QD)-based, organic light-emitting diode architecture using a noninverted structure with the QDs sandwiched between hole transporting layers (HTLs) outperforming the reference device structure implemented in conventional noninverted architecture by over five folds and suppressing the blue emission that is otherwise observed in the conventional structure because of the excess electrons leaking towards the HTL. It is predicted in the new device structure that 97.44% of the exciton formation takes place in the QD layer, while 2.56% of the excitons form in the HTL. It is found that the enhancement in the external quantum efficiency is mainly due to the stronger confinement of exciton formation to the QDs.

High brightness formamidinium lead bromide perovskite nanocrystal light emitting devices

Formamidinium lead halide (FAPbX3) has attracted greater attention and is more prominent recently in photovoltaic devices due to its broad absorption and higher thermal stability in comparison to more popular methylammonium lead halide MAPbX3. Herein, a simple and highly reproducible room temperature synthesis of device grade high quality formamidinium lead bromide CH(NH2)2PbBr3 (FAPbBr3) colloidal nanocrystals (NC) having high photoluminescence quantum efficiency (PLQE) of 55–65% is reported. In addition, we demonstrate high brightness perovskite light emitting device (Pe-LED) with these FAPbBr3 perovskite NC thin film using 2,2′,2″-(1,3,5-Benzinetriyl)-tris(1-phenyl-1-H-benzimidazole) commonly known as TPBi and 4,6-Bis(3,5-di(pyridin-3-yl)phenyl)-2-methylpyrimidine (B3PYMPM) as electron transport layers (ETL). The Pe-LED device with B3PYMPM as ETL has bright electroluminescence of up to 2714 cd/m2, while the Pe-LED device with TPBi as ETL has higher peak luminous efficiency of 6.4 cd/A and peak luminous power efficiency of 5.7 lm/W. To our knowledge this is the first report on high brightness light emitting device based on CH(NH2)2PbBr3 widely known as FAPbBr3 nanocrystals in literature.

Colloidal Quantum Dot Light-Emitting Diodes Employing Phosphorescent Small Organic Molecules as Efficient Exciton Harvesters

Nonradiative energy transfer (NRET) is an alternative excitation mechanism in colloidal quantum dot (QD) based electroluminescent devices (QLEDs). Here, we develop hybrid highly spectrally pure QLEDs that facilitate energy transfer pumping via NRET from a phosphorescent small organic molecule-codoped charge transport layer to the adjacent QDs. A partially codoped exciton funnelling electron transport layer is proposed and optimized for enhanced QLED performance while exhibiting very high color purity of 99%. These energy transfer pumped hybrid QLEDs demonstrate a 6-fold enhancement factor in the external quantum efficiency over the conventional QLED structure, in which energy transfer pumping is intrinsically weak.

Multicolor lasing prints

This work demonstrates mass production of printable multi-color lasing microarrays based on uniform hemispherical microcavities on a distributed Bragg reflector using inkjet technique. By embedding two different organic dyes into these prints, optically pumped whispering gallery mode microlasers with lasing wavelengths in green and red spectral ranges are realized. The spectral linewidth of the lasing modes is found as narrow as 0.11 nm. Interestingly, dual-color lasing emission in the ranges of 515–535 nm and 585–605 nm is simultaneously achieved by using two different dyes with certain ratios. Spectroscopic measurements elucidate the energy transfer process from the green dye (donor) to the red one (acceptor) with an energy transfer efficiency up to 80% in which the nonradiative Forster resonance energy transfer dominates. As such, the acceptor lasing in the presence of donor exhibits a significantly lower (∼2.5-fold) threshold compared with that of the pure acceptor lasing with the same concentration.

Engineering Quantum Dots with Different Emission Wavelengths and Specific Fluorescence Lifetimes for Spectrally and Temporally Multiplexed Imaging of Cells

In this work, a proof-of-concept study was performed to examine the potential of spectrally and temporally multiplexed imaging of cells by using quantum dots (QDs). The CdSe and ZAIS QDs with different emission wavelengths and well-separated fluorescence lifetimes were prepared to provide 2-dimensional information. After incubation with cells, the same type of QDs with different emission wavelengths were distinguishable in spectral imaging while different types of QDs with similar emission wavelengths but well-separated fluorescence lifetimes were resolvable in fluorescence lifetime imaging. For cells co-stained with dye and different types of QDs, the fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy (FLIM) images showed spatially separated patterns that can be split into channel images by using the software-based time gates. Overall, the results demonstrate the feasibility of combining the 2-dimensional encoded QDs for spectrally and temporally multiplexed imaging. This method can be extended to other QDs and organic dyes to maximize the number of measurable species in multiplexed imaging and sensing applications.