The crucial importance of passivation shell thickness control for QD with high Φ PL 15, 16, 17 calls for reliable methods to assess particle architecture.

for bioimaging and single particle tracking studies 14, 15. These design concepts can also provide non- or barely blinking and very photostable QD, e.g. This has meanwhile led to few reports of QD with Φ PL close to unity for the best studied class of II/VI QD, either exploiting so-called “giant” CdSe/CdS core/shell quantum dots (g-QD) 11, 12, or a post-synthetic treatment with e.g. For optimum performance, i.e., a very high photoluminescence quantum yield ( Φ PL) close to unity and an excellent photostability, the non-radiative recombination of charge carriers commonly associated with trap states must be suppressed 5, 6, 7, typically with the aid of tight inorganic surface passivation shells of sufficient thickness 8, 9, 10. 1) with their size tunable optical properties and narrow emission bands with applications in display technology, solid state lighting, and solar energy conversion 3, 4. Examples present nanometer-sized semiconductor quantum dots (QD) (see Fig.

Surface chemistry is an increasingly relevant field in nanoparticle (NP)-related research and particularly relevant for many applications of nanomaterials 1, 2. In addition to demonstrating the potential of this novel whole nanoobject approach for determining architectures of small nanoparticles, the presented results also highlight challenges faced by different sizing and structural analysis methods and method-inherent uncertainties. Information on particle size and monodispersity were validated with dynamic light scattering (DLS) and small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) and compared to data derived from optical measurements. The size of this spectroscopically assessed QD, is in the range of the information depth of usual laboratory XPS. By combining high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), a novel whole nanoobject approach is developed representatively for an ultrabright oleic acid-stabilized, thick shell CdSe/CdS QD with a PL quantum yield close to unity. This is often not fulfilled for functional nanomaterials such as many photoluminescent semiconductor quantum dots (QD) used for bioimaging, solid state lighting, and display technologies as the core does not show the application-relevant functionality like a high photoluminescence (PL) quantum yield, calling for a whole nanoobject approach.

Usually, to determine shell thickness, core and core/shell particle are measured individually requiring the availability of both nanoobjects. Controlling thickness and tightness of surface passivation shells is crucial for many applications of core–shell nanoparticles (NP).

Xps peak components fill