Abstract
Semiconductor nanocrystals (NCs) can function as efficient gain materials with chemical versatility because of their surface ligands. Because the properties of NCs in solution are sensitive to ligand-environment interactions, local chemical changes can result in changes in the optical response. However, amplification of the optical response is technically challenging because of colloidal instability at NC concentrations needed for sufficient gain to overcome losses. This paper demonstrates liquid lasing from plasmonic lattice cavities integrated with ligand-engineered CdZnS/ZnS NCs dispersed in toluene and water. By taking advantage of calcium ion-induced aggregation of NCs in aqueous solutions, we show how lasing threshold can be used as a transduction signal for ion detection. Our work highlights how NC solutions and plasmonic lattices with open cavity architectures can serve as a biosensing platform for lab-on-chip devices.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Article number | 154703 |
| Journal | Journal of Chemical Physics |
| Volume | 160 |
| Issue number | 15 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Apr 21 2024 |
Funding
This work was supported by the Vannevar Bush Faculty Fellowship from the U.S. Department of Defense (Grant No. DOD N00014-17-1-3023, M.J.H.T. and T.W.O.), National Science Foundation (NSF) MPS-Ascend Postdoctoral Research Fellowship (Grant No. 2316063, S.K.P.), NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (Grant No. DGE-2234667, J.C.), and NSF Division of Materials Research (Grant No. 2207215, Z.T.Z.) This work made use of the NUFAB, EPIC, and SPID facilities of Northwestern University\u2019s NUANCE Center that has received support from the SHyNE Resource (Grant No. NSF ECCS-2025633), the IIN, Northwestern\u2019s MRSEC Program (Grant No. NSF DMR-1720139), and MRI (Grant No. NSF DMR-1828676). M.J.H.T. and S.K.P. acknowledge support from the Ryan Fellowship and International Institute of Nanotechnology (IIN) postdoctoral research fellowship, respectively, from the IIN at Northwestern University. We also thank Jack Bundit Diloknawarit for assistance with transmission electron microscopy and Professor Richard D. Schaller for assistance with lifetime measurements.
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- General Physics and Astronomy
- Physical and Theoretical Chemistry