Electric-field-induced colour switching in colloidal quantum dot molecules at room temperature

Yonatan Ossia; Adar Levi; Yossef E. Panfil; Somnath Koley; Einav Scharf; Nadav Chefetz; Sergei Remennik; Atzmon Vakahi; Uri Banin

doi:10.1038/s41563-023-01606-0

Electric-field-induced colour switching in colloidal quantum dot molecules at room temperature

Yonatan Ossia, Adar Levi, Yossef E. Panfil, Somnath Koley, Einav Scharf, Nadav Chefetz, Sergei Remennik, Atzmon Vakahi, Uri Banin^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Institute of Chemistry

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Colloidal semiconductor quantum dots are robust emitters implemented in numerous prototype and commercial optoelectronic devices. However, active fluorescence colour tuning, achieved so far by electric-field-induced Stark effect, has been limited to a small spectral range, and accompanied by intensity reduction due to the electron–hole charge separation effect. Utilizing quantum dot molecules that manifest two coupled emission centres, we present a unique electric-field-induced instantaneous colour-switching effect. Reversible emission colour switching without intensity loss is achieved on a single-particle level, as corroborated by correlated electron microscopy imaging. Simulations establish that this is due to the electron wavefunction toggling between the two centres, induced by the electric field, and affected by the coupling strength. Quantum dot molecules manifesting two coupled emission centres may be tailored to emit distinct colours, opening the path for sensitive field sensing and colour-switchable devices such as a novel pixel design for displays or an electric-field-induced colour-tunable single-photon source.

Original language	American English
Journal	Nature Materials
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41563-023-01606-0
State	Accepted/In press - 2023

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
The study has received financial support from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (project CoupledNC, grant agreement no. [741767]; project CQDplay, grant agreement no. [101069322]) (U.B., Y.O., A.L., Y.E.P., E.S., N.C. and S.K.). Y.O. and E.S. acknowledge support from the Hebrew University Center for Nanoscience and Technology. Y.E.P. acknowledges support from the Ministry of Science and Technology and the National Foundation for Applied and Engineering Sciences, Israel. S.K. acknowledges support from the Planning and Budgeting Committee of the higher board of education in Israel through a fellowship. U.B. thanks the Alfred & Erica Larisch memorial chair. We thank G. Chechelinsky, M. Saidian, I. Shweki and S. Eliav from the Unit for Nano Characterization (UNC) of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Center for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, for assistance in the electrode device fabrication. We thank S. Gigi for helpful discussions.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited.

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Cite this

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title = "Electric-field-induced colour switching in colloidal quantum dot molecules at room temperature",

abstract = "Colloidal semiconductor quantum dots are robust emitters implemented in numerous prototype and commercial optoelectronic devices. However, active fluorescence colour tuning, achieved so far by electric-field-induced Stark effect, has been limited to a small spectral range, and accompanied by intensity reduction due to the electron–hole charge separation effect. Utilizing quantum dot molecules that manifest two coupled emission centres, we present a unique electric-field-induced instantaneous colour-switching effect. Reversible emission colour switching without intensity loss is achieved on a single-particle level, as corroborated by correlated electron microscopy imaging. Simulations establish that this is due to the electron wavefunction toggling between the two centres, induced by the electric field, and affected by the coupling strength. Quantum dot molecules manifesting two coupled emission centres may be tailored to emit distinct colours, opening the path for sensitive field sensing and colour-switchable devices such as a novel pixel design for displays or an electric-field-induced colour-tunable single-photon source.",

author = "Yonatan Ossia and Adar Levi and Panfil, {Yossef E.} and Somnath Koley and Einav Scharf and Nadav Chefetz and Sergei Remennik and Atzmon Vakahi and Uri Banin",

note = "Funding Information: The study has received financial support from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union{\textquoteright}s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (project CoupledNC, grant agreement no. [741767]; project CQDplay, grant agreement no. [101069322]) (U.B., Y.O., A.L., Y.E.P., E.S., N.C. and S.K.). Y.O. and E.S. acknowledge support from the Hebrew University Center for Nanoscience and Technology. Y.E.P. acknowledges support from the Ministry of Science and Technology and the National Foundation for Applied and Engineering Sciences, Israel. S.K. acknowledges support from the Planning and Budgeting Committee of the higher board of education in Israel through a fellowship. U.B. thanks the Alfred & Erica Larisch memorial chair. We thank G. Chechelinsky, M. Saidian, I. Shweki and S. Eliav from the Unit for Nano Characterization (UNC) of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Center for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, for assistance in the electrode device fabrication. We thank S. Gigi for helpful discussions. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited.",

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AU - Chefetz, Nadav

AU - Remennik, Sergei

AU - Vakahi, Atzmon

AU - Banin, Uri

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N2 - Colloidal semiconductor quantum dots are robust emitters implemented in numerous prototype and commercial optoelectronic devices. However, active fluorescence colour tuning, achieved so far by electric-field-induced Stark effect, has been limited to a small spectral range, and accompanied by intensity reduction due to the electron–hole charge separation effect. Utilizing quantum dot molecules that manifest two coupled emission centres, we present a unique electric-field-induced instantaneous colour-switching effect. Reversible emission colour switching without intensity loss is achieved on a single-particle level, as corroborated by correlated electron microscopy imaging. Simulations establish that this is due to the electron wavefunction toggling between the two centres, induced by the electric field, and affected by the coupling strength. Quantum dot molecules manifesting two coupled emission centres may be tailored to emit distinct colours, opening the path for sensitive field sensing and colour-switchable devices such as a novel pixel design for displays or an electric-field-induced colour-tunable single-photon source.

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Electric-field-induced colour switching in colloidal quantum dot molecules at room temperature

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