Significant improvement of near-UV electroluminescence from ZnO quantum dot LEDs via coupling with carbon nanodot surface plasmons

/ZnO Q-LEDs by optimizing the molar ratio of ZnO quantum dots to CDs and a significant enhancement (∼20-fold) of the near-UV electroluminescence (EL) intensity from the ZnO-based Q-LEDs was achieved. Time-resolved spectroscopy studies reveal that the observed luminescence enhancement arises due to the resonant coupling between ZnO excitons and CD SPs. The current study not only demonstrates a feasible way to acquire near-UV emission from all-inorganic Q-LEDs, but also provides an effective strategy to enhance the EL intensity of these QD light emitters, which can further be extended to other types of light-emitting devices to improve EL efficiency.