Narrow-Band Absorption-Enhanced Quantum Dot/J-Aggregate Conjugates

We report narrow-band absorption enhancement of semiconductor nanocrystals via Förster resonance energy transfer from cyanine J-aggregates. These J-aggregated dyes associate electrostatically with short quantum-dot (QD) surface ligands in solution. Energy transfer efficiencies approach unity for thi...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Walker, Brian J., Nair, Gautham Padmanabhan, Marshall, Lisa F., Bawendi, Moungi G., Bulovic, Vladimir
Other Authors: Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Chemistry
Format: Article
Language:en_US
Published: American Chemical Society (ACS) 2013
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/81988
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0960-2580
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2220-4365
Description
Summary:We report narrow-band absorption enhancement of semiconductor nanocrystals via Förster resonance energy transfer from cyanine J-aggregates. These J-aggregated dyes associate electrostatically with short quantum-dot (QD) surface ligands in solution. Energy transfer efficiencies approach unity for this light sensitization and result in a 5-fold enhancement in the QD excitation near the J-aggregate absorption maximum. Because a thin layer of J-aggregates attenuates the same amount of light (at peak absorbance) as a far thicker film of monomer dye, these absorption-enhanced materials may have applications in light-sensitizing applications such as photodetection and optical down-conversion.