Highly Ordered and fluorescent CdSe Quantum Dots Arrays
Li Zhang
1
, Hua-Yan Si
1
, Hua Xu
1
, Hao-Li Zhang
*1
, Yu-Qing Xiong
2
1
State Key Laboratory of Applied Organic Chemistry, College of Chemistry and Chemical
Engineering, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, 730000, China
2
National Key Lab of Surface Engineering, Lanzhou Institute of Physics, Lanzhou, 730000, China
*
Email: Haoli.Zhang@lzu.edu.cn
Highly ordered arrays consisting uniform fluorescent cadmium selenide (CdSe)
quantum dots (QDs) ring or dot structures were obtained by self-assembly of QDs on
chemically patterned substrates. In this method, Au substrates with alternative
hydrophobic and hydrophilic square patterns are firstly fabricated by microcontact
printing (μCP), which allows water droplets to condense on the hydrophilic regions to
provide two-dimensional template arrays. The CdSe QDs are then assembled at the
liquid/liquid interfaces to give uniform micro- or nanostructures. The shape and size
of the ring and dots can be tailored by controlling the relative evaporation speed of the
water and the organic solvents. The obtained nanostructures have ideal topography to
avoid substrate-induced fluorescence quenching.
Keywords: Microcontact printing; CdSe, quantum dots; Micro-arrays
1. Introduction
Patterning of functional materials into two-dimensional arrays is very important for
many photonic and electronic applications, such as multiple color light emitting
diodes (LEDs), field-emission displays, and multichannel chemical sensors. Therefore,
the schemes of positioning functional materials in predetermined areas are of great
scientific and technological interest.
1
Highly fluorescent cadmium selenide (CdSe)
quantum dots (QDs) is currently of great interest due to their unique size-dependent
optical properties,
2
and wide applications in bioimaging,
3
LEDs, and many photonic
and optoelectronic devices.
4
Various methods have been applied in order to
manipulate the organizational geometry of QDs, including photolithography,
5
selective dewetting,
6
capillary organization
7
and selective photoactivation.
8
However,
the controlled deposition of nanoparticles onto specific regions of surfaces with high
selectivity and easy operation still poses a significant challenge.
Microcontact printing (µCP) has been extensively applied in micro- and
nanostructure fabrications due to many advantages including fast, simple, inexpensive
operation, adaptable to large areas, and suitable for arbitrary surfaces. Since µCP is
based on a pattern transfer from topographic featured PDMS stamp to substrate via
conformal contact, the patterning resolution of is normally restricted by the feature
size on the stamp. However, by combining with other techniques, much higher
resolution could be obtained.
9
In this work, a method combining µCP with
self-assembly of nanoparticles at liquid/liquid interface is applied to produce highly
ordered array patterns with feature size smaller than that on the stamps. In this method,
µCP is used to create chemical patterns on substrates, which induce selective
condensation of water droplets. Then the QDs are assembled to the liquid/liquid
interface
10
to produce uniform ring or dot structures that are much smaller than the
chemical patterns. This method represents a simple, convenient, and versatile
approach for fabricating arrays of CdSe QDs aggregates of various patterns without
the aid of advanced lithographical tools.
1
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