Spectrally Resolved Dynamics of Energy Transfer in Quantum-Dot Assemblies: Towards Engineered Energy Flows in Artificial Materials

We report on the dynamics of resonant energy transfer in monodisperse, mixed-size, and energy-gradient (layered) assemblies of CdSe nanocrystal quantum dots. Time-resolved and spectrally resolved photoluminescence directly reveals the energy-dependent transfer rate of excitons from smaller to larger dots via electrostatic coupling. The data show a rapid (0.7–1.9 ns) energy transfer directly across a large tens-of-meV energy gap (i.e., between dots of disparate size), and suggest that interdot energy transfer can approach picosecond time scales in structurally optimized systems.