Temperature Antiquenching of the Luminescence from Capped CdSe Quantum Dots

Actively passivated: The surprising recovery of the luminescence intensity between 200 and 300 K for CdSe quantum dots gives insight into the importance of the interaction between the capping layer and the nanocrystal semiconductor. The vial on the left is at 160 K while the brightly luminescing solution on the right is at 300 K. These results show that the capping layer does not merely passivate the surface but plays an active role in surface reconstruction.