Colloidal Alloyed Quantum Dots with Enhanced Photoluminescence Quantum Yield in the NIR-II Window
Abstract
Semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) with photoluminescence (PL) emission at 900-1700 nm (denoted as the second near-infrared window, NIR-II) exhibit much-depressed photon absorption and scattering, which has stimulated extensive researches in biomedical imaging and NIR devices. However, it is very challenging to develop NIR-II QDs with a high photoluminescence quantum yield (PLQY) and excellent biocompatibility. Herein, we designed and synthesized an alloyed silver gold selenide (AgAuSe) QD with a bright emission from 820 to 1170 nm and achieved a record absolute PLQY of 65.3% at 978 nm emission among NIR-II QDs without a toxic element and a long lifetime of 4.58 μs. It is proved that the high PLQY and long lifetime are mainly attributed to the prevented nonradiative transition of excitons, probably resulted from suppressing cation vacancies and crystal defects from the high mobility of Ag ions by alloying Au atoms. These high-PLQY QDs with nontoxic heavy metal exhibit great application potential in bioimaging, light emitting diodes (LEDs), and photovoltaic devices.
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Since 2009, diverse NIR-II probe materials have emerged, including carbon nanotubes, quantum dots, rare-earth-doped nanoparticles, conjugated polymers, and organic small-molecule dyes.
“Since the pioneering report of high-contrast NIR-II imaging in 2009, the field has witnessed remarkable progress, leading to the emergence of diverse probe materials, including carbon nanotubes44,45, quantum dots46–48, rare-earth-doped nanoparticles49–51, conjugated polymers52, and organic small-molecule dyes53–58.”
From Organic small-molecule NIR-II fluorophores for tumor phototheranostics (2026) · cites this paper as [46]
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“…NIR-II imaging in 2009, the fi eld has witnessed remarkable progress, leading to the emergence of diverse probe materials, including carbon nanotubes 44,45 , quantum dots 46 – 48 , rare-earth-doped nanoparticles 49 – 51 , conjugated polymers 52 , and organic small-molecule dyes 53 – 58 .”
Self-citation
- Authors
- Yang, H., Li, R., Zhang, Y., Yu, M., Wang, Z., Liu, X., You, W., Tu, D., Sun, Z., Zhang, R., Chen, X., & Wang, Q.
- Affiliations
- Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
- Shanghai Jiao Tong University (CN)
- Corresponding author
- Chen, Xueyuan
- Wang, Qiangbin
- ORCID
- Venue
- Journal of the American Chemical Society
- Publisher
- American Chemical Society (ACS)
- Published
- 2021-02-05
- Volume
- 143
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 2601-2607
- ISSN
- 0002-7863 (ISSN-L)
- 1520-5126
- OpenAlex
- W3128585860
- Cited by
- 241
- References
- 43
- Citations by year
- 2026: 31 · 2025: 54 · 2024: 54 · 2023: 40 · 2022: 42 · 2021: 20
- FWCI
- 11.85
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Licence
- Locations
- Journal of the American Chemical Society (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs
- Ministry of Science and Technology of the People's Republic of China (2017YFA0205503)
- National Natural Science Foundation of China (21671198, 21778070, 21934007, 22001262)
- Chinese Academy of Sciences (121E32KYSB20180021, XDB20000000, XDB36000000)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Materials Science › Materials Chemistry › Quantum Dots Synthesis And Properties
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics › Semiconductor Quantum Structures and Devices
- Physical Sciences › Materials Science › Materials Chemistry › Luminescence Properties of Advanced Materials
- Keywords
- photoluminescence quantum yield, alloyed quantum dots, cation vacancies, crystal defects, photoluminescence lifetime, bioimaging, light-emitting diodes, photovoltaic devices
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