Electron beam induced and microemulsion templated synthesis of CdSe quantum dots: tunable broadband emission and charge carrier recombination dynamics

CdSe quantum dots (QDs) were synthesized by a rapid and one step templated approach inside the water pool of AOT(sodium bis(2-ethylhexyl) sulfosuccinate) based water-in-oil microemulsions (MEs) via electron beam (EB) irradiation technique with high dose rate, which favours high nucleation rate. The interplay of different experimental parameters such as precursor concentration, absorbed dose and W-0 values (aqueous phase to surfactant molar ratio) of MEs were found to have interesting consequences on the morphology, photoluminescence (PL), surface composition and carrier recombination dynamics of as-grown QDs. For instance, highly stable ultrasmall (similar to 1.7 nm) bluish-white light emitting QDs were obtained with quantum efficiency (eta) of similar to 9%. Furthermore, QDs were found to exhibit tunable broadband light emission extending from 450 to 750 nm (maximum FWHM 180 nm). This could be realized from the CIE (Commission Internationale d'Eclairage) chromaticity co-ordinates, which varied across the blue region to the orange region thereby, conferring their potential application in white light emitting diodes. Additionally, the average PL lifetime () values could be varied from 18 ns to as high as 74 ns, which reflect the role of surface states in terms of their density and distribution. Another interesting revelation was the self-assembling of the initially formed QDs into nanorods with high aspect ratios ranging from 7 to 20, in correspondence with the W-0 values. Besides, the fundamental roles of the chemical nature of water pool and the interfacial fluidity of AOTMEs in influencing the photophysical properties of QDs were investigated by carrying out a similar study in CTAB (cetyltrimethylammonium bromide; cationic surfactant) based MEs. Surprisingly, very profound and contrasting results were observed wherein and eta of the QDs in case of CTAB MEs were found to be at least three times lower as compared to that in AOTMEs.