Intraband Transitions of Nanocrystals Transforming from Lead Selenide to Self-doped Silver Selenide Quantum Dots by Cation Exchange.

In search of heavy metal-free mid-IR active colloidal materials, self-doped silver selenide colloidal quantum dots (CQDs) can be an alternative offering tunable mid-IR wavelength with a narrow bandwidth. One of the challenges in the study of the intraband transition is developing a method to widen the intraband transition energy range as well as reducing the toxicity of the materials. Here, we present Ag x Se ( x > 2) CQDs exhibiting an intraband transition up to 0.39 eV, produced by the cation exchange (CE) method from PbSe CQDs. The major electronic transition efficiently changes from the SWIR band gap of PbSe CQDs to the mid-IR intraband transition of the Ag x Se CQDs by the CE. The intraband exciton is verified by examining the absorption and emission of the CE Ag x Se CQDs as well as their applications on electrochemical mid-IR luminescence and mid-IR intraband photodetectors.