ZnF2-Assisted Synthesis of Highly Luminescent InP/ZnSe/ZnS Quantum Dots for Efficient and Stable Electroluminescence

High-quality InP-based quantum dots (QDs) have become very promising, environmentally benign light emitters for display applications, but their synthesis generally entails hazardous hydrofluoric acid. Here, we present a highly facile route to InP/ZnSe/ZnS core/shell/shell QDs with a near-unity photoluminescence quantum yield. As the key additive, the inorganic salt ZnF2 mildly reacts with carboxylic acid at a high temperature and in situ generates HF, which eliminates surface oxide impurities, thus facilitating epitaxial shell growth. The resulting InP/ZnSe/ZnS QDs exhibit a narrower emission line width and better thermal stability in comparison with QDs synthesized with hydrofluoric acid. Light-emitting diodes using large-sized InP/ ZnSe/ZnS QDs without replacing original ligands achieve the highest peak external quantum efficiency of 22.2%, to the best of our knowledge, along with a maximum brightness of > 110 000 cd/m2 and a T95 lifetime of > 32 000 h at 100 cd/m2 . This safe approach is anticipated to be applied for a wide range of III-V QDs.

Automated summary

A new method using inorganic salt ZnF2 instead of hydrofluoric acid to synthesize InP/ZnSe/ZnS core/shell/shell quantum dots is proposed in this study. The resulting quantum dots show higher photoluminescence efficiency and thermal stability, and can achieve high brightness emission in large sizes.