Luminescence Change of CdS and CdSe Quantum Dots on a Ag Film

Enhanced luminescence of an emitter on a Ag film is usually ascribed to the resonant surface plasmons. In these studies, the solid cadmium sulfide (CdS) and cadmium selenide (CdSe) quantum dot/silver (QD/Ag) hybrids were prepared, and the luminescence characteristics of these QD/Ag hybrids were measured. It is found that the enhancement of the trap state emission (TSE) is related to the QD size. The TSE features of the annealed QD/Ag hybrids are insensitive to the morphology of the Ag film. We used the wet and dry methods to separate the QD and Ag components and found that the photoluminescence (PL) of the QD component was permanently changed from the initial state. The PL modification is ascribed to the Ag⁺ doping effect rather than the surface plasmons. This doping method uses pure Ag as the Ag⁺ ion source. In this case, though the CdS and CdSe QD/Ag hybrids are the solid state, the cation exchange between Ag⁺ and Cd²⁺ ions can still occur on the QD surface. Even a small amount of Ag can efficiently influence the luminescence of the QDs embedded in the poly(methyl methacrylate) matrix. A hypothetical model was proposed to explain the PL modification of the QD/Ag hybrid with and without annealing. Using this dry method for doping, the transparent luminescence label can be prepared easily, and the doped QDs can be further doped with Ag⁺ dopants.