Time-resolved energy transfer from single chloride terminated nanocrystals to graphene

TL;DR

This study investigates how excitons from chloride-terminated nanocrystals transfer energy to graphene over time, revealing insights into non-radiative decay and blinking behavior crucial for nanophotonic device development.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed time-resolved analysis of energy transfer from chloride-terminated nanocrystals to graphene, highlighting the effects of specific ligands on decay channels.

Findings

Blinking behavior is modified by chloride and n-butylamine ligands.

Spontaneous emission is reduced by a factor of four.

Energy transfer pathways are elucidated for nanophotonic applications.

Abstract

We examine the time-resolved resonance energy transfer of excitons from single n-butyl amine-bound, chloride-terminated nanocrystals to two-dimensional graphene through time-correlated single photon counting. The radiative biexponential lifetime kinetics and blinking statistics of the individual surface-modified nanocrystal elucidate the non-radiative decay channels. Blinking modification as well as a 4 times reduction in spontaneous emission were observed with the short chloride and n-butylamine ligands, probing the energy transfer pathways for the development of graphene-nanocrystal nanophotonic devices.