Broadband sensitization of lanthanide emission with indium phos-phide quantum dots for visible to NIR downshifting

: Semiconductor quantum dot sensitized lanthanide ions hold great promise in producing a broadly absorbing and sharply emitting luminophore, but their synthesis has proven to be difficult. We report the first synthesis of core/shell/shell InP/Ln x Y 1-x F 3 /ShF 3 (Ln = Yb, Nd, Sh = Lu, Y) nanocrystals that exhibit a broad visible absorption coupled to a sharp near-infrared emission. Additionally, this is the first report of Nd being coupled to a quantum dot absorber. We characterize the system with a variety of electron microscopy and x-ray techniques that prove this unique structure. Optical measurements confirm the correlation of the Ln 3+ emission to the quantum dot ab-sorption, while the presence of a trap state emission gives a clue as to the mechanism of energy transfer between the dot and the lanthanide.

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