Enhanced Cu emission in ZnS : Cu,Cl/ZnS core–shell nanocrystals

ZnS : Cu,Cl/ZnS core-shell nanocrystals (NCs) have been synthesized via a facile aqueous synthesis method. The shell growth of the NCs was observed via a red-shift in the UV-Vis absorption spectra with increasing NC size. The Cu photoluminescence (PL) emission was enhanced by capping with a thin ZnS shell. The ZnS : Cu (0.2%) and ZnS : Cu (0.5%) show a more pronounced red-shift in the apparent PL peak position as well as a 37% and 67% increase in emission intensity, respectively, in comparison to the undoped NCs. The observed red-shift is mainly due to an increase in intensity of the Cu PL emission. The 1% Cu-doped NCs exhibit very little red-shift because the observed emission is dominated by the Cu-dopant and thus nearly independent of the size of the NCs. The increase in Cu emission is evidence that Cu atoms occupying non-emissive surface sites in doped ZnS NCs were encapsulated by the ZnS shell. Extended X-Ray Absorption Fine Structure (EXAFS) data also suggests that the Cu had slightly more neighbors upon growth of a ZnS shell, indicating its encapsulation into the core of the NCs. The EXAFS Zn edge data also indicate greater disorder in the ZnS structure when the shell is grown, which may be attributed to the ZnS shell being more amorphous than the core NCs. This study demonstrates that core-shell structures can be used as a simple and yet powerful strategy to enhance PL properties of doped semiconductor NCs.