Chemical Sensitivity of Luminescent Epitaxial Surface InP Quantum Dots.docVIP

Journal of Sensor Technology, 2013, 3, 1-5 /10.4236/jst.2013.31001 Published Online March 2013 (/journal/jst) Chemical Sensitivity of Luminescent Epitaxial Surface InP Quantum Dots Roberta De Angelis , Mauro Casalboni , Ivan Colantoni , Liliana D’Amico , Fabio De Matteis , 1* 1,2 1 1 1,2 3 3 1,2 Fariba Hatami , William T. Masselink , Paolo Prosposito 1 Physics Department, University of Rome “Tor Vergata”, Rome, Italy INSTM, Research Unit of the University of Roma “Tor Vergata”, Rome, Italy Department of Physics, Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany 2 3 Email: rdeangelis@roma2.infn.it * Received January 9, 2013; revised February 11, 2013; accepted February 21, 2013 ABSTRACT Surface InP quantum dots grown by gas source molecular beam epitaxy on In0.48Ga0.52P buffer layer lattice matched to GaAs substrate shows a broad-band near-infrared photoluminescence ranging from 750 to 865 nm dependent on their dimensions. A reversible luminescence intensity enhancement has been observed when the quantum dots were exposed to vapours of different chemical solvents with the highest sensitivity for alcohol (methanol and ethanol) vapours. The luminescent behaviour is dependent on the solvent type and concentration. The peak energy and band shape of the lu- minescence are not affected by the solvent vapour. Keywords: Vapour Sensitivity; Quantum Dot; Photoluminescence; InP; Organic Solvent 1. Introduction sorbed solvent chemical is thought to alter the electronic and optical properties of the material by affecting its sur- face states [15]. Such surface trap states capture the pho- toexcited electrons or holes causing the hindering of the radiative recombination