A Review: Collaborative Enhancement Strategies with Blue-Emitting Quantum Dot Materials

Blue-emitting QDs are highly desirable for next-generation optoelectronic applications because of their exceptional color purity and spectrally tunable emission. However, their PLQY and device EQE lag significantly behind those of red and green QDs. This shortfall originates from a synergistic interplay of three fundamental factors: (i) the high density of surface defects and dangling bonds inherent to the small particle dimensions required for blue emission; (ii) the deep valence-band position arising from the wide bandgap, which imposes a pronounced interfacial charge-injection barrier; and (iii) the additional energetic barriers introduced by core-shell interfaces or insulating organic ligands. Collectively, these mechanisms markedly amplify non-radiative recombination and Auger losses. This review summarizes recent advancements in enhancing blue-emitting QD efficiency through multifaceted strategies encompassing precursor engineering, elemental doping, core-shell structure optimization, alloying engineering, surface passivation, and ligand design. Moreover, we highlight the synergistic integration of these approaches-exemplified by dual-precursor kinetic-strain coupling protocols, stress-locked gradient-alloy/dual-shell (CdZnSeS/ZnSe/ZnS) architectures, ligand-exchange cascade passivation schemes to realize high-performance blue QDs tailored for advanced optoelectronic devices such as high-resolution displays, solid-state lighting, and photovoltaic systems.