Luminescence properties of hybrid associates of colloidal CdS quantum dots with J-aggregates of thiatrimethine cyanine dye

Luminescence properties of water-soluble hybrid associates of semiconductor colloidal CdS quantum dots (QDs) with average size of 2.5 nm, 3.2 nm, 4.2 nm and J-aggregates of 3,3′-di-(γ-sulfopropyl)-4,4′,5,5′-dibenzo-9-ethylthiacarbocyanine betaine pyridinium salt (Dye) in gelatin were investigated using the methods of absorption, steady-state and time-resolved luminescence spectroscopy. The decrease in luminescence intensity of CdS QDs and increase in luminescence intensity of Dye J-aggregates were detected with increasing of Dye concentration. It was shown that curves of luminescence decay of CdS QDs are non-exponential. The decreasing of luminescence lifetime of CdS QDs with increasing of Dye J-aggregates concentration was observed. It was concluded that dynamic quenching due to non-radiative resonance energy transfer takes place. It was shown that overlap integral between luminescence spectra of CdS QDs and absorption spectra of Dye J-aggregates increases with the increase of average diameter of CdS QDs and luminescence decay of CdS QDs is accelerated. Energy transfer efficiency for all three sizes of QDs was more than 31%.