Anomalous Spectral Characteristics of Ultrathin sub-nm Colloidal CdSe Nanoplatelets

We demonstrate high quantum yield broad photoluminescence emission of ultrathin sub-nanometer CdSe nanoplatelets (two-monolayer). They also exhibit polarization-characterized lateral size dependent anomalous heavy hole and light/split-off hole absorption intensities.Comment: Published in Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics (CLEO): Science and Innovations 2017, San Jose, CA, USA, 14-19 May 2017 (2 pages, 3 figures

Nonradiative energy transfer in colloidal CdSe nanoplatelet films

Nonradiative energy transfer (NRET) has been extensively studied in colloidal nanocrystal (quantum dots) and nanorod (quantum wires) assemblies. In this work, we present the first account of spectroscopic evidence of NRET in solid thin films of CdSe based colloidal nanoplatelets (NPLs), also known as colloidal quantum wells. The NRET was investigated as a function of the concentration of two NPL populations with different vertical thicknesses via steady state and time resolved spectroscopy. NRET takes place from the NPLs with smaller vertical thickness (i.e., larger band gap) to the ones with a larger vertical thickness (i.e., smaller band gap) with efficiency up to similar to 60%. Here, we reveal that the NRET efficiency is limited in these NPL solid film assemblies due to the self-stacking of NPLs within their own population causing an increased distance between the donor-acceptor pairs, which is significantly different to previously studied colloidal quantum dot based architectures for nonradiative energy transfer

Lateral Size-Dependent Spontaneous and Stimulated Emission Properties in Colloidal CdSe Nanoplatelets

Cataloged from PDF version of article.Here, we systematically investigated the spontaneous and stimulated emission performances of solution-processed atomically flat quasi-2D nanoplatelets (NPLs) as a function of their lateral size using colloidal CdSe core NPLs. We found that the photoluminescence quantum efficiency of these NPLs decreases with increasing lateral size while their photoluminescence decay rate accelerates. This strongly suggests that nonradiative channels prevail in the NPL ensembles having extended lateral size, which is well-explained by the increasing number of the defected NPL subpopulation. In the case of stimulated emission the role of lateral size in NPLs influentially emerges both in the single- and two-photon absorption (1PA and 2PA) pumping. In the amplified spontaneous emission measurements, we uncovered that the stimulated emission thresholds of 1PA and 2PA exhibit completely opposite behavior with increasing lateral size. The NPLs with larger lateral sizes exhibited higher stimulated emission thresholds under 1PA pumping due to the dominating defected subpopulation in larger NPLs. On the other hand, surprisingly, larger NPLs remarkably revealed lower 2PA-pumped amplified spontaneous emission thresholds. This is attributed to the observation of a "giant" 2PA cross-section overwhelmingly growing with increasing lateral size and reaching record levels higher than 10(6) GM, at least an order of magnitude stronger than colloidal quantum dots and rods. These findings suggest that the lateral size control in the NPLs, which is commonly neglected, is essential to high-performance colloidal NPL optoelectronic devices in addition to the vertical monolayer control

Single-mode lasing from a single 7 nm thick monolayer of colloidal quantum wells in a monolithic microcavity

In this work, we report the first account of monolithically-fabricated vertical cavity surface emitting lasers (VCSELs) of densely-packed, orientation-controlled, atomically flat colloidal quantum wells (CQWs) using a self-assembly method and demonstrate single-mode lasing from a record thin colloidal gain medium with a film thickness of 7 nm under femtosecond optical excitation. We used specially engineered CQWs to demonstrate these hybrid CQW-VCSELs consisting of only a few layers to a single monolayer of CQWs and achieved the lasing from these thin gain media by thoroughly modeling and implementing a vertical cavity consisting of distributed Bragg reflectors with an additional dielectric layer for mode tuning. Accurate spectral and spatial alignment of the cavity mode with the CQW films was secured with the help of full electromagnetic computations. While overcoming the long-pending problem of limited electrical conductivity in thicker colloidal films, such ultra-thin colloidal gain media can help enabling fully electrically-driven colloidal lasers

Continuously Tunable Emission in Inverted Type-I CdS/CdSe Core/Crown Semiconductor Nanoplatelets

The synthesis and unique tunable optical properties of core/crown nanoplatelets having an inverted Type-I heterostructure are presented. Here, colloidal 2D CdS/CdSe heteronanoplatelets are grown with thickness of four monolayers using seed-mediated method. In this work, it is shown that the emission peak of the resulting CdS/CdSe heteronanoplatelets can be continuously spectrally tuned between the peak emission wavelengths of the core only CdS nanoplatelets (421 nm) and CdSe nanoplatelets (515 nm) having the same vertical thickness. In these inverted Type-I nanoplatelets, the unique continuous tunable emission is enabled by adjusting the lateral width of the CdSe crown, having a narrower bandgap, around the core CdS nanoplatelet, having a wider bandgap, as a result of the controlled lateral quantum confinement in the crown region additional to the pure vertical confinement. As a proof-of-concept demonstration, a white light generation is shown by using color conversion with these CdS/CdSe heteronanoplatelets having finely tuned thin crowns, resulting in a color rendering index of 80. The robust control of the electronic structure in such inverted Type-I heteronanoplatelets achieved by tailoring the lateral extent of the crown coating around the core template presents a new enabling pathway for bandgap engineering in solution-processed quantum wells

Understanding the Journey of Dopant Copper Ions in Atomically Flat Colloidal Nanocrystals of CdSe Nanoplatelets Using Partial Cation Exchange Reactions

Unique electronic and optical properties of doped semiconductor nanocrystals (NCs) have widely stimulated a great deal of interest to explore new effective synthesis routes to achieve controlled doping for highly efficient materials. In this work, we show copper doping via postsynthesis partial cation exchange (CE) in atomically flat colloidal semiconductor nanoplatelets (NPLs). Here chemical reactivity of different dopant precursors, reaction kinetics, and shape of seed NPLs were extensively elaborated for successful doping and efficient emission. Dopant-induced Stokes shifted and tunable photoluminescence emission (640 to 830 nm) was observed in these Cu-doped CdSe NPLs using different thicknesses and heterostructures. High quantum yields (reaching 63%) accompanied by high absorption cross sections (>2.5 times) were obtained in such NPLs compared to those of Cu-doped CdSe colloidal quantum dots (CQDs). Systematic tuning of the doping level in these two-dimensional NPLs provides an insightful understanding of the chemical dopant based orbital hybridization in NCs. The unique combination of doping via the partial CE method and precise control of quantum confinement in such atomically flat NPLs originating from their magic-sized vertical thickness exhibits an excellent model platform for studying photophysics of doped quantum confined systems

The Use of Prebiotics of Plant Origin in Functional Milk Products

Abstract A food that contains biologically active compounds/components which beneficially affects one or more target functions such as reduction of chronic diseases in the body along with its nutritional effects is named as "functional product". Among these foods or beverages that are fortified through addition of exogenous functional compounds (i.e. prebiotics) or using microorganisms that produce biogenic compounds or have probiotic features (probiotics). Probiotics are described as cultures of live microorganisms that are beneficial to health when administered to humans or animals, improve properties of gastrointestinal microflora. Prebiotics cannot be digested by small intestinal enzymes but are fermented by probiotic bacteria the large intestine. Much research attention is focused on the combined use of probiotics and prebiotics, generally known as symbiotic, to get their synergistic health properties. This review provides an insight on the current knowledge about the potential sources of plant-based prebiotics used in dairy industry