Enhancement of Charge Transfer and Quenching of Photoluminescence of Capped CdS Quantum Dots

Quantum dots (Q-dots) of cadmium sulfide (CdS) with three different capping ligands, 1-butanethiol (BT), 2-mercaptoethanol (ME) and benzyl mercaptan (BM) have been investigated. An external electric field of variable strength of 0.2–1.0 MV cm(−1) was applied to the sample of capped CdS Q-dots doped in a poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) films. Field-induced changes in optical absorption of capped CdS Q-dots were observed in terms of purely the second-derivative of the absorption spectrum (the Stark shift), indicating an enhancement in electric dipole moment following transition to the first exciton state. The enhancement depends on the shape and size of the Q-dots prepared using different capping ligands. Field induced-change in photoluminescence (PL) reveals similar changes, an enhancement in charge-transfer (CT) character in exciton state. PL of capped CdS Q-dots is significantly quenched in presence of external electric field. The strong field-induced quenching occurs as a result of the increased charge separation resulting exciton dissociation. Thus, understanding the CT character and field-induced PL quenching of CdS Q-dots is important for photovoltaic, LEDs and biological applications.