Enhancement of the Fluorescence Quantum Yield of Thiol-Stabilized CdTe Quantum Dots Through Surface Passivation with Sodium Chloride and Bicarbonate

Colloidal quantum dots (QDs) have potential for several applications, e.g. as novel light sources; as photoluminescent probes; and for solar energy conversion devices, but their sensitivity towards their environmental surroundings, and the presence of surface defects may still degrade their emission properties. Herein, we present a post-synthetic treatment of CdTe QDs stabilized by mixed thiol ligands using chloride and bicarbonate ions to achieve near-complete surface passivation, resulting in a two-fold increase of the photoluminescence quantum yield (PL QY) and significant suppression of non-radiative recombination. Time-resolved PL measurements reveal fluorescence lifetime and PL QY trends did not both track identically; in the most favorable cases a suppression of non-radiative recombination and a slight increase in the radiative recombination rates after the salt treatment took place. The optimized conditions demonstrated here are proven to work for different sizes of CdTe QDs, and also show a dependence on the composition of the mixed ligand systems used.