Photoluminescence Enhancement of CdSe Quantum Dots: A Case of Organogel?Nanoparticle Symbiosis

PRASHANT D. WADHAVANE; RAQUEL E. GALIAN; M. ANGELES IZQUIERDO; JORDI AGUILERA-SIGALAT; FRANCISCO GALINDO; LUCIANA C. SCHMIDT; M. ISABEL BURGUETE; JULIA PÉREZ-PRIETO; SANTIAGO V. LUIS

JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY

AMER CHEMICAL SOC

Lugar: Washington; Año: 2012 vol. 134 p. 20554 - 20563

0002-7863

Highly fl uorescent organogels (QD− organogel), prepared by combining a pseudopeptidic macrocycle and different types of CdSe quantum dots (QDs), have been characterized using a battery of optical and microscopic techniques. The results indicate that the presence of the QDs not only does not disrupt the supramolecular organization of the internal fi brillar network of the organogel to a signifi cant extent, but it also decreases the critical concentration of gelator needed to form stable and thermoreversible organogels. Regarding the photophysical properties of the QDs, diff erent trends were observed depending on the presence of a ZnS inorganic shell around the CdSe core. Thus, while the core− shell QDs preserve their photophysical properties in the organogel medium, a high to moderate increase of the fluorescence intensity (up to 528%) and the average lifetime (up to 1.7), respectively, was observed for the core QDs embedded in the organogel. The results are relevant for the development of luminescent organogels based on quantum dots, which have potential applications as advanced hybrid materials in different fields.