Photoluminescence of cadmium selenide quantum dots in polymer solutions

The effect of solvent on the photoluminescence of cadmium selenide quantum dots stabilized by oleic acid is examined with the example of two organic solvents: toluene and THF. It is found that THF favors desorption of ligands and formation of surface defects to a greater extent than toluene; as a result, the maximum of the photoluminescence band shifts to the red spectral region and its intensity decreases. The addition of polymers to the solution of quantum dots causes changes in the efficiency of photoluminescence and in the kinetics of its quenching. In the range of low concentrations (≤2 wt %) of quantum dots in polymer solutions, the intensity of luminescence first grows and then passes through a maximum and decreases. This effect may be explained both by the increasing number of surface defects and by quenching via energy transfer to polymers, especially in the case of polymers containing aromatic groups.