Advances in colloidal quantum dots
The confinement found in colloidal semiconductor quantum dots enables the design of materials with tunable properties. García de Arquer et al. review the recent advances in methods for synthesis and surface functionalization of quantum dots that enable fine tuning of their optical, chemical, and electrical properties. These important developments have driven the commercialization of display and lighting applications and provide promising developments in the related fields of lasing and sensing.
Science, aaz8541, this issue p. eaaz8541
Structured Abstract
BACKGROUND
Semiconductor materials feature optical and electronic properties that can be engineered through their composition and crystal structure. The use of semiconductors such as silicon gallium arsenide sparked technologies from computers and mobile phones to lasers and satellites. Semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) offer an additional lever: Because their size is reduced to the nanometer scale in all three dimensions, the restricted electron motion leads to a discrete atom-like electronic structure and size-dependent energy levels. This enables the design of nanomaterials with widely tunable light absorption, bright emission of pure colors, control over electronic transport, and a wide tuning of chemical and physical functions because of their large surface-to-volume ratio.
ADVANCES
The bright and narrowband light emission of semiconductor QDs, tunable across the visible and near-infrared spectrum, is attractive to realize more efficient displays with purer colors. QDs are engineered compositionally and structurally to manipulate energy states and charge interactions, leading to optical gain and lasing, relevant to light emission across visible and infrared wavelengths and fiberoptic communication. Their tunable surface chemistry allows application as optical labels in bio-imaging, made possible by tethering QDs with proteins and antibodies. The manipulation of QD surfaces with capping molecules that have different chemical and physical functions can be tailored to program their assembly into semiconducting solids, increasing conductivity and enabling the transduction of photonic and chemical stimuli into electrical signals. Optoelectronic devices such as transistors and photodetectors lead to cameras sensitive to visible and infrared light. Highly crystalline QDs can be grown epitaxially on judiciously chosen substrates by using high-temperature and vacuum conditions, and their use has led to commercially viable high-performance lasers. The advent of colloidal QDs, which can be fabricated and processed in solution at mild conditions, enabled large-area manufacturing and widened the scope of QD application to markets such as consumer electronics and photovoltaics.
OUTLOOK
From a chemistry perspective, further advances in QD fabrication are needed to sustain and improve desired chemical and optoelectronic properties and to do so with high reproducibility. This entails the use of inexpensive synthesis methods and precursors that are able to retain laboratory-scale QD properties to market-relevant volumes. A better understanding of the yet-incomplete picture of QD surfaces, atomic arrangement, and metastable character is needed to drive further progress. From a regulatory perspective, added attention is needed to achieve high-quality materials that do not rely on heavy metals such as Cd, Pb, and Hg. The role of nanostructuring in toxicity and life cycle analysis for each application is increasingly important. From a materials and photophysics perspective, exciting opportunities remain in the understanding and harnessing of electrons in highly confined materials, bridging the gap between mature epitaxial QDs and still-up-and-coming colloidal QDs. The yet-imperfect quality of the latter—a price paid today in exchange for their ease of manufacture—remains a central challenge and must be addressed to achieve further-increased performance in devices. From a device perspective, colloidal QD manufacturing must advance to translate from laboratory-scale to large-area applications such as roll-to-roll and inkjet printing. Photocatalysis, in which light is used to drive chemical transformations, is an emerging field in which QDs are of interest. Quantum information technologies, which rely on the transduction of coherent light and electrons, bring new challenges and opportunities to exploit quantum confinement effects. Moving forward, opportunities remain in the design of QD-enabled new device architectures.
Quantum dots feature widely tunable and distinctive optical, electrical, chemical, and physical properties. They span energy harvesting, illumination, displays, cameras, sensors, communication and information technology, biology, and medicine, among others. These have been exploited to realize efficient lasers, displays, biotags, and solar harvesting devices available in the market and are emerging in photovoltaics, sensing, and quantum information.
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Quantum dots feature widely tunable and distinctive optical, electrical, chemical, and physical properties. They span energy harvesting, illumination, displays, cameras, sensors, communication and information technology, biology, and medicine, among others. These have been exploited to realize efficient lasers, displays, biotags, and solar harvesting devices available in the market and are emerging in photovoltaics, sensing, and quantum information.
Abstract
In quantum-confined semiconductor nanostructures, electrons exhibit distinctive behavior compared with that in bulk solids. This enables the design of materials with tunable chemical, physical, electrical, and optical properties. Zero-dimensional semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) offer strong light absorption and bright narrowband emission across the visible and infrared wavelengths and have been engineered to exhibit optical gain and lasing. These properties are of interest for imaging, solar energy harvesting, displays, and communications. Here, we offer an overview of advances in the synthesis and understanding of QD nanomaterials, with a focus on colloidal QDs, and discuss their prospects in technologies such as displays and lighting, lasers, sensing, electronics, solar energy conversion, photocatalysis, and quantum information.