Highly luminescent flexible quantum dot-clay films

Autores: Hiroyuki Tetsuka|Takeo Ebina|Fujio Mizukami
Fuente: Adv. mater.
2008

Nanocrystals made of semiconducting materials glow different colours depending on their size. Researchers are interested in using them in electronic devices, but first need to figure out how to attach them to more conventional silicon components. Takeo Ebina and his colleagues at the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology in Sendai, Japan, have come up with a technique for doing so. The researchers dissolved nanocrystals made of cadmium selenide and zinc sulphide in water and mixed it into a clay?polymer mixture. They then poured the clay into moulds and dried it, creating a thin, flexible film filled with evenly spaced crystals. The team was able to make films glow various colours under ultraviolet light (pictured) and hope the technique will allow nanocrystals to be integrated into optoelectronic devices.