Quantum Materials for Photonic Devices

A special issue of Nanomaterials (ISSN 2079-4991). This special issue belongs to the section "Nanophotonics Materials and Devices".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 May 2023) | Viewed by 7707

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Guest Editor
Department of Photonics, Feng Chia University, Seatwen, Taichung 40724, Taiwan
Interests: photonic crystals; quantum materials; photonic devices; contact lens
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In recent years, quantum materials have emerged concept across diverse fields of science and engineering. Quantum materials are a promising and broad class of materials that feature optical and electronic properties that can be engineered through their composition and crystal structure, such as quantum dots, quantum rods, quantum wells, etc. From a material and photophysics perspective, exciting opportunities remain in the understanding and harnessing of electrons in highly confined materials. In addition, photonic devices are components for creating, manipulating, or detecting light, such as laser diodes, light-emitting diodes, solar or photovoltaic cells, displays, optical amplifiers, etc. Therefore, “quantum materials” developed for photonic device applications could drive the commercialization of display and lighting applications and provide promising developments in the related fields

Prof. Dr. Chun-Feng Lai
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • quantum dots
  • quantum rods
  • quantum wells
  • luminescent materials
  • quantum materials

Published Papers (6 papers)

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Research

13 pages, 3037 KiB  
Article
Color Rendering Index over 95 Achieved by Using Light Recycling Process Based on Hybrid Remote-Type Red Quantum-Dot Components Applied to Conventional LED Lighting Devices
by Eunki Baek, Boseong Kim, Sohee Kim, Juyeon Song, Jaehyeong Yoo, Sung Min Park, Jong-Min Lee and Jae-Hyeon Ko
Nanomaterials 2023, 13(18), 2560; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano13182560 - 15 Sep 2023
Viewed by 735
Abstract
Red color conversion materials have often been used in conventional white LEDs (light-emitting diodes) to enhance the insufficient deep-red component and thus improve the color-rendering property. Quantum dots (QDs) are one of the candidates for this due to their flexibility in controlling the [...] Read more.
Red color conversion materials have often been used in conventional white LEDs (light-emitting diodes) to enhance the insufficient deep-red component and thus improve the color-rendering property. Quantum dots (QDs) are one of the candidates for this due to their flexibility in controlling the emission wavelength, which is attributed to the quantum confinement effect. Two types of remote QD components, i.e., QD films and QD caps, were prepared and applied to conventional white LED illumination to improve the color-rendering properties. Thanks to the red component near 630 nm caused by the QD components, the color rendering indices (CRIs) of both Ra and R9 could be increased to over 95. It was found that both the diffusing nature of the reflector and the light recycling process in the vertical cavity between the bottom reflector and the top optical films play important roles in improving the color conversion efficiency of remote QD components. The present study showed that the proper application of remote QDs combined with a suitable optical cavity can control the correlated color temperature of the illumination over a wide range, thus realizing different color appearances of white LED illumination. In addition, a high CRI of over 95 could be achieved due to the sufficient excitation from fewer QDs, due to the strong optical cavity effect. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Quantum Materials for Photonic Devices)
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12 pages, 3048 KiB  
Article
Hydrogel Contact Lenses Embedded with Amine-Functionalized Large-Pore Mesoporous Silica Nanoparticles with Extended Hyaluronic Acid Release
by Chun-Feng Lai and Fu-Jia Shiau
Nanomaterials 2023, 13(17), 2441; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano13172441 - 28 Aug 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1199
Abstract
Contact lenses (CLs) have emerged as an effective method for delivering ophthalmic drugs. In this research, we designed hydrogel CLs capable of extended release, utilizing large-pore mesoporous silica nanoparticles (LPMSNs) to deliver hyaluronic acid (HA) for treating dry eye syndrome. LPMSNs were functionalized [...] Read more.
Contact lenses (CLs) have emerged as an effective method for delivering ophthalmic drugs. In this research, we designed hydrogel CLs capable of extended release, utilizing large-pore mesoporous silica nanoparticles (LPMSNs) to deliver hyaluronic acid (HA) for treating dry eye syndrome. LPMSNs were functionalized with amine groups (LPMSN–amine) to enhance HA loading and release capacity. In vitro release studies demonstrated that LPMSN–amine CLs exhibited superior slower HA release than LPMSN–siloxane and standard CLs. Within 120 h, the cumulative amount of HA released from LPMSN–amine CLs reached approximately 275.58 µg, marking a 12.6-fold improvement compared to standard CLs, when loaded from 0.1 wt% HA solutions. Furthermore, LPMSN–amine CLs effectively maintained moisture, mitigating ocular surface dehydration, making them a promising solution for dry eye management. This study successfully developed LPMSN–amine CLs for extended HA release, identifying the optimal functional groups and loading conditions to achieve sustained release. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Quantum Materials for Photonic Devices)
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10 pages, 1643 KiB  
Article
Towards Bright Single-Photon Emission in Elliptical Micropillars
by Aidar Galimov, Michail Bobrov, Maxim Rakhlin, Yuriy Serov, Dmitrii Kazanov, Alexey Veretennikov, Grigory Klimko, Sergey Sorokin, Irina Sedova, Nikolai Maleev, Yuriy Zadiranov, Marina Kulagina, Yulia Guseva, Daryia Berezina, Ekaterina Nikitina and Alexey Toropov
Nanomaterials 2023, 13(9), 1572; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano13091572 - 08 May 2023
Viewed by 1328
Abstract
In recent years, single-photon sources (SPSs) based on the emission of a single semiconductor quantum dot (QD) have been actively developed. While the purity and indistinguishability of single photons are already close to ideal values, the high brightness of SPSs remains a challenge. [...] Read more.
In recent years, single-photon sources (SPSs) based on the emission of a single semiconductor quantum dot (QD) have been actively developed. While the purity and indistinguishability of single photons are already close to ideal values, the high brightness of SPSs remains a challenge. The widely used resonant excitation with cross-polarization filtering usually leads to at least a two-fold reduction in the single-photon counts rate, since single-photon emission is usually unpolarized, or its polarization state is close to that of the exciting laser. One of the solutions is the use of polarization-selective microcavities, which allows one to redirect most of the QD emission to a specific polarization determined by the optical mode of the microcavity. In the present work, elliptical micropillars with distributed Bragg reflectors are investigated theoretically and experimentally as a promising design of such polarization-selective microcavities. The impact of ellipticity, ellipse area and verticality of the side walls on the splitting of the optical fundamental mode is investigated. The study of the near-field pattern allows us to detect the presence of higher-order optical modes, which are classified theoretically. The possibility of obtaining strongly polarized single-photon QD radiation associated with the short-wavelength fundamental cavity mode is shown. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Quantum Materials for Photonic Devices)
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10 pages, 3499 KiB  
Article
Submicron-Size Emitters of the 1.2–1.55 μm Spectral Range Based on InP/InAsP/InP Nanostructures Integrated into Si Substrate
by Ivan Melnichenko, Eduard Moiseev, Natalia Kryzhanovskaya, Ivan Makhov, Alexey Nadtochiy, Nikolay Kalyuznyy, Valeriy Kondratev and Alexey Zhukov
Nanomaterials 2022, 12(23), 4213; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano12234213 - 27 Nov 2022
Viewed by 1392
Abstract
We study photoluminescence of InP/InAsP/InP nanostructures monolithically integrated to a Si(100) substrate. The InP/InAsP/InP nanostructures were grown in pre-formed pits in the silicon substrate using an original approach based on selective area growth and driven by a molten alloy in metal–organic vapor epitaxy [...] Read more.
We study photoluminescence of InP/InAsP/InP nanostructures monolithically integrated to a Si(100) substrate. The InP/InAsP/InP nanostructures were grown in pre-formed pits in the silicon substrate using an original approach based on selective area growth and driven by a molten alloy in metal–organic vapor epitaxy method. This approach provides the selective-area synthesis of the ordered emitters arrays on Si substrates. The obtained InP/InAsP/InP nanostructures have a submicron size. The individual InP/InAsP/InP nanostructures were investigated by photoluminescence spectroscopy at room temperature. The tuning of the emission line in the spectral range from 1200 nm to 1550 nm was obtained depending on the growth parameters. These results provide a path for the growth on Si(100) substrate of position-controlled heterojunctions based on InAs1−xPx for nanoscale optical devices operating at the telecom band. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Quantum Materials for Photonic Devices)
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17 pages, 4515 KiB  
Article
Cascade Förster Resonance Energy Transfer Studies for Enhancement of Light Harvesting on Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells
by Mulugeta Tesema Efa, Jheng-Chang Huang and Toyoko Imae
Nanomaterials 2022, 12(22), 4085; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano12224085 - 20 Nov 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1369
Abstract
This work reports cascade Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET)-based n-type (ZnO) and p-type (NiO) dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs), discussing approaches to enhance their overall performance. Although DSSCs suffer from poorer performance than other solar cells, the use of composites with carbon dot (Cdot) [...] Read more.
This work reports cascade Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET)-based n-type (ZnO) and p-type (NiO) dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs), discussing approaches to enhance their overall performance. Although DSSCs suffer from poorer performance than other solar cells, the use of composites with carbon dot (Cdot) can enhance the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of DSSCs. However, further improvements are demanded through molecular design to stimulate DSSCs. Here, a photosensitized system based on a cascade FRET was induced alongside the conventional photosensitizer dye (N719). To N719 in a DSSC is transferred the energy cascaded through donor fluorescence materials (pyrene, 3-acetyl-7-N,N-diethyl-coumarin or coumarin and acridine orange), and this process enhances the light-harvesting properties of the sensitizers in the DSSC across a broad region of the solar spectrum. PCE values of 10.7 and 11.3% were achieved for ZnO/Cdot and NiO/Cdot DSSCs, respectively. These high PCE values result from the energy transfer among multi-photosensitizers (cascade FRET fluorophores, N719, and Cdot). Moreover, Cdot can play a role in intensifying the adsorption of dyes and discouraging charge recombination on the semiconductor. The present results raise expectations that a significant improvement in photovoltaic performance can be attained of DSSCs exploiting the cascade FRET photonics phenomenon. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Quantum Materials for Photonic Devices)
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15 pages, 3456 KiB  
Article
Structural Optimization of Vertically-Stacked White LEDs with a Yellow Phosphor Plate and a Red Quantum-Dot Film
by Seung Chan Hong and Jae-Hyeon Ko
Nanomaterials 2022, 12(16), 2846; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano12162846 - 18 Aug 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1246
Abstract
A remote-type white light-emitting diode (LED) consisting of a red quantum-dot (QD) film and a yellow phosphor plate was studied by both experiment and optical simulation. The sequence of the two color-conversion films had a substantial effect on the color-rendering properties of the [...] Read more.
A remote-type white light-emitting diode (LED) consisting of a red quantum-dot (QD) film and a yellow phosphor plate was studied by both experiment and optical simulation. The sequence of the two color-conversion films had a substantial effect on the color-rendering properties of the vertically-stacked white LED, and the optimized configuration exhibited a high color rendering index of more than 90 thanks to the enhanced red component via the QD film. For the design of high-power white LED devices of a remote type, it was necessary to locate the color-conversion films below the diffuser plate to remove the substantial color dispersion depending on the viewing angle. The present study shows that high power and high color-rendering white LED devices can be realized in terms of two vertically-stacked color-conversion materials, which would provide long-term stability due to the remote design. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Quantum Materials for Photonic Devices)
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