Sugar glass as a host matrix for highly luminescent CIZS/ZnS core/shell quantum dots

Abstract We report a straightforward route to fabricate fluorescent CTAB (Cetyltrimethylammonium bromide)-CIZS/ZnS quantum dots (QDs) loaded sugar glass (SG). Highly fluorescent colloidal CIZS/ZnS alloyed core/shell QDs have been synthesized via a seeded growth technique in organic solvents, which was followed by a phase transfer process into water using CTAB ligands. The optical properties of CTAB-coated CIZS/ZnS QDs were well-preserved after embedding into SG, maintaining 80% of the PLQY of aqueous QD solution. SG free of ions helps to preserve the original optical properties of QDs and the obtained QD SG is very fluorescent under UV illumination. No obvious change was observed in the normalized luminescence spectra after embedding QDs in SG. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first work with sugar as the amorphous macro-matrix embedding ‘green’ Cu-based highly fluorescent core/shell QDs. Our results offer a promising approach for low-cost encapsulation of QDs, facilitating their potential implementation in optical and photonic applications.