Manipulation of structural and optical properties in charge-separating ZnTe/ZnSe chalcogenide core/shell semiconductor nanocrystals: Atomistic tight-binding theory

The atomistic tight-binding theory (TB) is utilized to study the electronic structures and optical properties of type-II ZnTe/ZnSe chalcogenide core/shell nanocrystals. The purpose of the present study is to theoretically understand the atomistic impact of the ZnSe growth shell on the single-particle spectra, charge densities, optical band gaps, electron-hole overlaps and oscillation strengths. The sensitivity of ZnSe growth shell thickness in analyzing the electronic structures and optical properties of ZnTe/ZnSe core/shell nanocrystals reflects the charge separation of type-II band alignment. The comprehensive calculations of ZnTe/ZnSe core/shell nanocrystals are effectively manipulated by including and changing the ZnSe growth shell thickness. As a comparison, the atomistic tight-binding calculations demonstrate a reasonable agreement with effective mass approximation and experiment. Finally, the computations successfully discover the important factors of the growth shell on the natural behaviors of type-II ZnTe/ZnSe core/shell nanocrystals which affords a guideline to be implemented to the novel electronic cadmium-free nanodevices and the environmentally friendly applications.