Blinking Statistics of Small Clusters of Semiconductor Nanocrystals

Individual and small clusters of CdSe/ZnS core/shell semiconductor nanocrystals are studied with single-molecule, time-correlated, single-photon counting confocal fluorescence microscopy to obtain fluorescence intermittency (blinking) statistics and correlations. Clusters were distinguished from ind...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of physical chemistry. C Vol. 117; no. 48; pp. 25761 - 25768
Main Authors Whitcomb, Kevin J, Ryan, Duncan P, Gelfand, Martin P, Van Orden, Alan
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Columbus, OH American Chemical Society 05.12.2013
Subjects
Condensed matter: electronic structure, electrical, magnetic, and optical properties
Cross-disciplinary physics: materials science; rheology
Exact sciences and technology
Materials science
Nanoscale materials and structures: fabrication and characterization
Optical properties and condensed-matter spectroscopy and other interactions of matter with particles and radiation
Other topics in nanoscale materials and structures
Photoluminescence
Physics
Energy gap
Lifetime
Acceptor center
II-VI semiconductors
Core shell structure
Fluorescence
Confocal microscopy
Autocorrelations
Nanostructured materials
Energy transfer
Fluorescence microscopy
Nanocrystal
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Summary:Individual and small clusters of CdSe/ZnS core/shell semiconductor nanocrystals are studied with single-molecule, time-correlated, single-photon counting confocal fluorescence microscopy to obtain fluorescence intermittency (blinking) statistics and correlations. Clusters were distinguished from individual nanocrystals using intensity autocorrelations and decay histograms. Because clusters do not exhibit on/off blinking, we have constructed objective prescriptions to distinguish between high and low emission intervals using lifetime as well as intensity data. The high/low blinking of clusters is statistically similar to the on/off blinking of individual nanocrystals. These results support a model for the distinctive fluorescence properties of small nanocrystal clusters based on nonradiative energy transfer, in which the high/low blinking of a cluster is a consequence of on/off blinking of the “acceptor” (smallest energy gap) nanocrystal in the cluster.
ISSN:1932-7447
1932-7455
DOI:10.1021/jp407659y