Colloidal Nanoplatelets and Quantum Well Optoelectronics

Colloidal nanoplatelets are atomically precise, solution-processable semiconductor sheets whose thickness is confined to a few monolayers, yielding electronic states analogous to epitaxial quantum wells. Their strong quantum confinement in the vertical direction and extended lateral dimensions give rise to narrow emission linewidths, large absorption cross-sections and giant exciton binding energies. These properties underpin advances in light-emitting diodes, low-threshold lasers, photodetectors and nonlinear optical devices. Optimisation of heterostructure design—such as core/shell and core/crown architectures—suppresses non-radiative Auger recombination, enhances photoluminescence quantum yields and enables ultralow-power continuous-wave lasing at room temperature. Precise control over colloidal chemistry has led to tunable optical gain and polarized intersubband absorption in the near-infrared, broadening the scope for telecommunications, sensing and integrated photonic applications. Furthermore, the assembly of nanoplatelets into ordered monolayers or hybrid heterostructures with graphene and other two-dimensional materials offers pathways to engineer charge transfer and macroscopic polarisation, promising scalable solution-based optoelectronic platforms.

Research from Nature Portfolio

No recent Nature Portfolio content available.

Colloidal Nanoplatelets and Quantum Well Optoelectronics publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in colloidal nanoplatelets and quantum well optoelectronics across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Quantum well: A semiconductor structure in which charge carriers are confined in one dimension to a thickness comparable to their de Broglie wavelength, yielding discrete energy levels.

Colloidal nanoplatelet: A two-dimensional nanocrystal synthesised in solution with atomically controlled thickness and lateral dimensions much larger than the thickness.

Photoluminescence quantum yield: The ratio of the number of emitted photons to the number of absorbed photons in a luminescent material.

Auger recombination: A non-radiative process in which recombination energy of an electron-hole pair is transferred to a third carrier, reducing radiative efficiency.

Intersubband transition: Optical absorption or emission between quantised electronic sublevels within the same band of a quantum well or nanoplatelet, often polarised and tunable by thickness.

References

1. On the Rational Design of Core/(Multi)-Crown Type-II Heteronanoplatelets. Journal of the American Chemical Society (2023).
2. Revealing Two Distinct Formation Pathways of 2D Wurtzite‐CdSe Nanocrystals Using In Situ X‐Ray Scattering. Advanced Science (2023).
3. A room temperature continuous-wave nanolaser using colloidal quantum wells. Nature Communications (2017).
4. Optical properties and applications of two‐dimensional CdSe nanoplatelets. InfoMat (2020).
5. Kinetic Control over Self-Assembly of Semiconductor Nanoplatelets. Nano Letters (2020).
6. Engineering the Charge Transfer in all 2D Graphene-Nanoplatelets Heterostructure Photodetectors. Scientific Reports (2016).
7. Sub-single exciton optical gain threshold in colloidal semiconductor quantum wells with gradient alloy shelling. Nature Communications (2020).
8. Polarized near-infrared intersubband absorptions in CdSe colloidal quantum wells. Nature Communications (2019).