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Updated: Jun 11, 2026
Carrier Lifetime Measurements in Semiconductors through the Microwave Photoconductivity Decay Method
Published on: April 18, 2019
Infrared-active heterostructured nanocrystals with ultralong carrier lifetimes
Doh C Lee1, István Robel, Jeffrey M Pietryga
1Center for Advanced Solar Photophysics, MS-J567, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545, USA.
Abstract:
We present the synthesis of composite PbSe/CdSe/CdS nanocrystals with two distinct geometries: core/shell/shell structures and tetrapods. These novel nanostructures exhibit extremely long carrier decay times up to 20 micros that are combined with high emission efficiencies in the infrared. The increase in carrier lifetimes is attributed to the reduction of the electron-hole overlap as a result of delocalization of the electron wave function into the outer CdS shell or arms. The ultralong carrier lifetimes and controlled geometry render these nanocrystals attractive for a variety of applications from lasing to photocatalysis and photovoltaics.
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