A curable silicone composition is provided. The curable silicone composition comprises a cadmium-free quantum dot in an amount of from about 0.01 to about 10 mass % of the composition, wherein the composition can be cured by a hydrosilylation reaction and has at least about 10 mol % of aryl groups in all silicon atom-bonded organic groups. The curable silicone composition exhibits excellent dispersibility of the quantum dot, and cures to form a cured product exhibiting excellent color conversion efficiency.

It is an object of the present technology to provide a semiconductor film capable of further improving photoelectric conversion efficiency. There is provided a semiconductor film containing semiconductor nanoparticles and sulfur, the semiconductor nanoparticles having a core-shell structure, the core portion containing a compound represented by the following general formula (1), the shell portion containing ZnS, the sulfur coordinating to the semiconductor nanoparticles.

(Chem. 1)

Cu.sub.y1In.sub.z1A1.sub.(y1+3z1)/2 (1)

(In the general formula (1), y1 satisfies a relationship of 0<y120, z1 satisfies a relationship of 0<z120, and A1 represents S, Se, or Te.)

Quantum dot semiconductor nanoparticle compositions that incorporate ions such as zinc, aluminum, calcium, or magnesium into the quantum dot core have been found to be more stable to Ostwald ripening. A core-shell quantum dot may have a core of a semiconductor material that includes indium, magnesium, and phosphorus ions. Ions such as zinc, calcium, and/or aluminum may be included in addition to, or in place of, magnesium. The core may further include other ions, such as selenium, and/or sulfur. The core may be coated with one (or more) shells of semiconductor material. Example shell semiconductor materials include semiconductors containing zinc, sulfur, selenium, iron and/or oxygen ions.

Quantum dots that are cadmium-free and/or stoichiometncally tuned are disclosed, as are methods of making them. Inclusion of the quantum dots and others in a stabilizing polymer matrix is also disclosed. The polymers are chosen for their strong binding affinity to the outer layers of the quantum dots such that the bond dissociation energy between the polymer material and the quantum dot is greater than the energy required to reach the melt temperature of the cross-linked polymer.

Embodiments of the invention include a luminescent structure including an InZnP core comprising an alloy including both In and Zn, and a shell disposed on a surface of the core, wherein the core has a crystal lattice constant that matches or nearly matches the lattice constant of the shell.

Provided here nontoxic CuGaS.sub.2/ZnS core/shell nanocrystals with free-self-reabsorption losses and large Stokes shift synthesized on an industrially gram-scale. The nanocrystals exhibited a typical energy-down-shift that absorbs only ultraviolet light and emits the whole range of visible light with a high photoluminescence-quantum yield. The straightforward application of these energy-down-shift nanocrystals on the front surface of a monocrystalline p-type silicon solar cell significantly enhanced the short-circuit current density and power conversion efficiency. The significant improvement in the external quantum efficiency and that decreasing in the surface reflectance in the ultraviolet region clearly manifest the photovoltaic enhancement. Such promising results together with the simple (one-pot core/shell synthesis), cost-effective, and scalable preparation methods might encourage the manufacturers of solar cells and other optoelectronic applications to apply these energy-down-shift nanocrystals to different broader eco-friendly applications.

A quantum dot and its preparation method and application. The method includes the steps of forming a compound quantum dot core first, then adding a precursor of a metal element M.sup.2 to be alloyed into the reaction system containing the compound quantum dot core. The metal element M.sup.2 undergoes cation exchange with a metal element M.sup.1 in the existing compound quantum dot core, thereby forming a quantum dot with an alloy core. In this method, the distribution of alloyed components is not only adjusted by changing the feeding ratio of the metal elements and the non-metal elements, but also by a more real-time, more direct, and more precise adjustments through various reaction condition parameters of the actual reaction process, thereby achieving a more precise composition and energy level distribution control for alloyed quantum dots.

A layered structure including a transparent substrate; a photoluminescent layer disposed on the transparent substrate and a pattern of a quantum dot polymer composite; and a capping layer disposed on the photoluminescent layer and including an inorganic material, a method of producing the same, a liquid crystal display including the same. The quantum dot polymer composite includes a polymer matrix; and a plurality of quantum dots in the polymer matrix, the pattern of the quantum dot polymer composite includes at least one repeating section and the repeating section includes a first section configured to emit light of a first peak wavelength, the inorganic material is disposed on at least a portion of a surface of the repeating section, and the inorganic material includes a metal oxide, a metal nitride, a metal oxynitride, a metal sulfide, or a combination thereof.

The present disclosure provides a quantum dot having a core-shell structure. To have superior quantum efficiency and optical stability, the quantum dot is of a five element system of ZnCuInPS. The quantum dot includes a core formed of In(Zn)P material and doped with copper. The quantum dot further comprises a first shell formed of CuZnInS material and surrounding the core and a second shell formed ZnS material and surrounding the first shell.

This invention is a commercially manufactured article of manufacture (such as a shoulder patch) comprising an infrared (IR) phosphorescent material that emits in the IR wavelength range (e.g., from approximately seven-hundred nanometers (700 nm) to approximately one millimeter (1 mm)) after being excited by incident wavelengths of between 100 nm and 750 nm (or visible light). In other words, once the material has been exposed to visible light, the material will continue to emit in the IR wavelength range for a period of time, even when the material is no longer exposed to the visible light.