White light from Mn²⁺-doped CdS nanocrystals: a new approach

Abstract

We report the generation of white light from a simple transition-metal-doped semiconducting nanocrystal, namely, Mn²⁺-doped CdS, for the first time by suitably tuning the relative surface-state emissions of the nanocrystal host and the dopant emission. White light emitted by these nanocrystals remains unchanged both in solution form as well as in the solid state and can be excited by a wide range of UV lights without disturbing the chromaticity; this desirable property arises from the intrinsic separation of the absorption energy and the emission energies due to a large stokes shift, thereby avoiding the vexing problem of self-absorption altogether.