Pushing the band gap envelope: Mid-infrared emitting colloidal PbSe quantum dots

Efficient mid-infrared sources are of considerable general interest for gas analysis, remote sensing, and atmospheric monitoring, but existing technologies are limited. Here, we report the synthesis of the first colloidal QDs having photoluminescence (PL) in the mid-infrared. We show particle-size-tunable mid-infrared emission for large (10-17 nm), but quantum-confined, colloidal PbSe QDs, with efficient, narrow-bandwidth PL at energies as low as 0.30 eV (4.1 μm). Applying two new synthetic routes, we have achieved fine control of QD size and size distribution, allowing us to provide the first systematic correlation of QD size with PL energy for PbSe QDs emitting at wavelengths longer than 2 μm, results which are compared with a literature model. For the entire spectral range reported, we provide measured quantum yields in emission, showing a marked decrease with increasing QD size, for which we include a possible explanation. Finally, we present very promising preliminary results for overcoating PbSe with CdSe, a wider-gap semiconductor. We show PL enhanced by ∼6-fold for such core/shell samples.