FABRICATION, STUDY OF OPTICAL PROPERTIES AND ENERGY TRANSFER PROCESS OF Eu3+ ION- DOPED CdSSe TERNARY SEMICONDUCTOR NANOCRYSTALS

Abstract

CdS_0.5Se_0.5 (CdSSe) ternary nanocrystals (NCs) doped with the rare earth Eu³⁺ ions have been successfully fabricated by wet chemical method in ODE solvent. The shape and structure of the NCs were investigated by using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) measurements. The optical properties of the NCs were investigated through excitation spectroscopy, fluorescence and fluorescence lifetime. The emission spectra of the Eu³⁺ ion doped CdSSe NCs show five emission peaks at 507 nm, 588 nm, 620 nm, 652 nm and 699 nm, corresponding to the excitonic emission of the CdSSe host, and the ⁵D₀ -⁷F_1, ⁵D₀ -⁷F_2, ⁵D₀ - ⁷F₃ and ⁵D₀ - ⁷F₄ transitions of Eu³⁺ ion. The energy transfer processes from CdSSe host to Eu³⁺ ions and between the Eu³⁺ ions have been studied and explained in detail. CdSSe NCs doped with Eu³⁺ ions have a much longer lifetime than undoped CdSSe NCs, they have many potential applications in the fields of photovoltaics, photocatalysis and biomarkers.