Sensitivity versus Stability: Making Quantum Dots More Luminescent by Sulfur Photocuring without Compromising Sensor Response

Treatment of CdSe quantum dots with a solution of elemental sulfur, followed by UVA or visible photoactivation, leads to as much as a 500% luminescence enhancement and stabilization as a result of the modification of surface sites by short sulfur oligomers. These modified quantum dots show excellent response to solution quenchers and are promising materials for the development of quantum dot-based sensors.