Spectroscopy and femtosecond dynamics of type-II CdTe/CdSe core-shell quantum dots

Syntheses of CdTe/CdSe type-II quantum dots (QDs) using CdO and CdCl2, as precursors for core and shell, respectively, are reported. Characterization was made via near-IR interbond emission, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDX), and X-ray diffraction (XRD). Femtosecond fluorescence upconversion measurements on the relaxation dynamics of the CdTe core (in CdTe/CdSe) emission and CdTe/CdSe inter-band emission reveal that as the size of the core increases from 5.3, 6.1 to 6.9 nm, the rate of photoinduced electron separation decreases from 1.96, 1.44 to 1.07 X 10(12) s(-1). The finite rates of the initial charge separation ore tentatively rationalized by the small electron-phonon coupling, causing weak coupling between the initial and charge-separated states.