Quantitative Analysis of Photo-Thermal Stability of CdSe/CdS Core-Shell Nanocrystals

We report here investigations on the instability in luminescence of bare (TOPO-stabilized) and CdS- capped CdSe particles under infrared radiation. During photo-thermal annealing the formation of oxide layers on the surfaces of the particles create defect states. Consequently there is a reduction in particle size. These two effects control the light output from the samples. We make a quantitative comparison of the stability of bare CdSe and core-shell type CdSe-CdS particles under photo-annealing. Using diffusion theory, we show that the volume of the oxide layer, adhered to the crystallites, play a dominant role in controlling the luminosity of the particles.