Synthesis of near-infrared-emitting CdTe/CdSe/ZnSe/ZnS heterostructure

Near-infrared-emitting quantum dots (QDs) were fabricated via organic synthesis strategies through constructing CdTe/CdSe/ZnSe/ZnS multishell heterostructure. An effective shell-coating route was developed for multishell growth on CdTe cores. Core/shell growth was monitored by absorption and photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy observation. Yellow emitting CdTe cores were coated with a CdSe shell to generate type II structure. This yields core/shell QDs with red photoluminescence. The passivation by the ZnSe shell having a substantially wide bandgap confines the excitons within the CdTe/CdSe interface and isolates them from the solution environment and consequently improves the stability of the heterostructure. An additional ZnS shell was deposited around the outer layer of CdTe/CdSe/ZnSe QDs to form a heterostructure through the reaction between zinc oleate and trioctylphosphine sulfur in the crude CdTe/CdSe/ZnSe solution. By varying CdTe core size and each shell thickness, the PL wavelength of the obtained heterostructure can span from 580 to 770 nm. The PL efficiency is quenched in CdTe QDs in diluted solution but increases substantially up to 24% for CdTe/CdSe core/shell QDs. The PL efficiency of CdTe/CdSe/ZnSe/ZnS QDs with average diameter of 5.4 nm and a PL peak wavelength of 770 nm is 20%.