Silica encapsulation of toluene soluble quantum dots with high photostability

We report the silica encapsulation of toluene soluble single quantum dots (QDs) with various silica layer thicknesses. The photoluminescence of silica-encapsulated QD showed a blue shift as the silica layer increased. Although the measured decay lifetime and the quantum yields of the silica-encapsulated QDs decreased as the SiO2 layer increased, the silica-encapsulated QDs showed good photostability for certain silica layer thicknesses. Furthermore, photoblinking, the characteristic optical property of single QD, did not change after silica encapsulation. Silica encapsulation of toluene soluble QDs offers great potential for advanced optical applications.

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► This work reports fabrication and characterization of silica encapsulation of toluene soluble quantum dots.
► Blue shift of photoluminescence is due to oxidation process during synthesis.
► Our silica-encapsulated quantum dot gives promising good photostability.
► Photoblinking shows that optical property of single QDs does not change after encapsulation.