Light-Generating CdSe/CdS Colloidal Quantum Dot-Doped Plastic Optical Fibers

Colloidal quantum dots (cQDs) are now a mature nanomaterial with optical properties customizable through varying size and composition. However, their use in optical devices is limited as they are not widely available in convenient forms such as optical fibers. With advances in polymerization methods incorporating nanocrystals, nanocomposite materials suitable for processing into high quality hybrid active fibers can be achieved. We demonstrate a plastic optical fiber fabrication method which ensures homogeneous dispersion of cQDs within a polymer core matrix. Loading concentrations between 1011 and 1013 CdSe/CdS cQDs per cm3 in polystyrene were electronically imaged, confirming only sporadic subwavelength aggregates. Rayleigh scattering losses are therefore dominant at energies below the semiconductors' band gap, but are overtaken by a sharp CdS-related absorption onset around 525 nm facilitating cQD excitation. The red-shifted photoluminescence emission is then minimally reabsorbed along the fiber with a spectrum barely affected by the polymerization and a quantum yield staying at ∼65% of its initial value. The latter, along with the glass transition temperature and refractive index, is independent of the cQD concentration, hence yielding a proportionally increasing light output. Our cQD-doped fibers are photostable to within 5% over days showing great promise for functional material applications.