Year: 2010
Type: article
Abstract: Energy transfer from photoexcited zero-dimensional systems to metallic systems plays a prominent role in modern day materials science. A situation of particular interest concerns the interaction between a photoexcited dipole and an atomically thin metal. The recent discovery of graphene layers permits investigation of this phenomenon. Here we report a study of fluorescence from individual CdSe/ZnS nanocrystals in contact with single- and few-layer graphene sheets. The rate of energy transfer is determined from the strong quenching of the nanocrystal fluorescence. For single-layer graphene, we find a rate of approximately 4 ns(-1), in agreement with a model based on the dipole approximation and a tight-binding description of graphene. This rate increases significantly with the number of graphene layers, before approaching the bulk limit. Our study quantifies energy transfer to and fluorescence quenching by graphene, critical properties for novel applications in photovoltaic devices and as a molecular ruler.
Source: ACS Nano
DOI: 10.1021/nn1005107
Authors: Zheyuan Chen, Stéphane Berciaud, Colin Nuckolls, Tony F. Heinz, Louis E. Brus
Institution: Columbia University
Language: English
Subfield: Materials Chemistry
Field: Materials Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2158403083