Pavle V Radovanovic
University of Waterloo, Canada
Title: Generating efficient and tunable white light using electronically coupled nanocrystal and molecular building blocks
Biography
Biography: Pavle V Radovanovic
Abstract
Native defects, including lattice site vacancies and interstitials, are a source of many useful and often unexpected properties in solid-state materials. In this talk I will first present our recent results on defect-based photoluminescence properties of colloidal wide band gap metal oxide nanocrystals (Ga2O3 and ZnO), and the effect of nanocrystal size on the photoluminescence energy, efficiency, and dynamics. Coupling of the native defects with selected molecular fluorophores bound to nanocrystal surfaces via energy transfer allows for the emergence of complex optical properties. One of the examples that will be discussed is generation of white light that can be tuned based on the nanocrystal size and the concentration of luminescent adsorbates on nanocrystal surfaces. The ability to modify nanocrystal surfaces allows for further optimization of the stability and functionality of the resulting nanoconjugates. The extension of these results to composite films consisting of photoluminescent nanocrystal energy donors and acceptors represents a path to all-inorganic rare earth element-free white-emitting phosphors. The implications of this work for high-efficiency photonic devices, such as white light emitting diodes, will also be discussed.