Detecting electronic structure evolution of semiconductor nanocrystals by magnetic circular dichroism spectroscopy

The evolution of electronic states of nanocrystals under shape variation is hardly detected by conventional optical and electronic instruments due to the condensed electronic levels of nanocrystals. Herein, we demonstrate that magnetic circular dichroism (MCD) spectroscopy is a high-resolution method to monitor this delicate progress on account of the sensitive Zeeman response to electronic states. In particular, the MCD intensity of the first excitonic transition exponentially decreases with the shape changing from quantum dots to quantum rods owing to the increased density of valence pz state with elongation in the z direction, which contributes much less to MCD intensity compared with p±. This work provides a simple but effective strategy for understanding the electronic state evolution in various semiconductor nanomaterials.