Widely tunable emissions of colloidal Zn(x)Cd(1-x)Se alloy quantum dots using a constant Zn/Cd precursor ratio

The widely tunable emissions of Zn(x)Cd(1-x)Se alloy quantum dots (QDs), which emit green to red wavelengths from 534 to 620 nm, are reported. Green-, yellow-, orange-, and red-emitting QDs were synthesized by varying a point of time for oleylamine (as a co-surfactant) addition and a Se precursor amount, and keeping a constant Zn/Cd precursor ratio. With reaction time the alloying and particle growth of the alloy QDs progressed simultaneously in the opposite direction in the variation of their band gap. However, the band gap energies of all QDs were observed to be gradually blue-shifted due to the slight dominance of alloying over the particle growth effect. The compositions of alloy QDs were estimated based on their sizes and band gap energies. Zn(x)Cd(1-x)Se core QDs were also overcoated with a ZnSe shell with a higher band gap to enhance their quantum yields.