A Simple Route for Highly Luminescent Quaternary Cu-Zn-In-S Nanocrystal Emitters

We reported a simple synthetic method for Cu–Zn–In–S nanocrystals (NCs) using commercially available, low toxic precursors. The various sizes and composition of Cu–Zn–In–S NCs were well controlled by simply changing reaction temperature and the ratio of the precursors, respectively. Accordingly, as produced these particles exhibited tunable photoluminescence (PL) spectra with emission color tuned from visible to the NIR region and had a relatively high QY of over 70% without coating any wide band gap shell materials. Further experimental results revealed that Cu–Zn–In–S NCs showed some advantages in contrast to typical plain II–VI and III–V semiconductor NCs. Preliminary tentative application on the preparation of QD-LEDs verified the feasibility in the lighting field.