Hexavalent chromium is an extremely carcinogenic chemical that has been widely produced in the United States. This has led to major waste contamination and pollution throughout the country. According to the Environmental Working Group Hexavalent chromium has been found in 89% of city tap water. Most people believe they are safe using regular home filter systems however that is not true. A more expensive ion exchange water treatment unit is required. Therefore to protect yourselves from this carcinogenic metal a reliable test is required. In this study we have developed a Zinc Sulfide Manganese doped Quantum Rod technology to detect for presence of chromate and other harmful transitional metals in drinking water. Quantum Rods were synthesized using a hydrothermal reaction method. They were fully characterized using UV-visible absorption spectroscopy, fluorescence emission spectroscopy, X-ray Photoelectric Spectroscopy (XPS) and High Resolution Transmission Electron Microscopy (HRTEM). Quantum Rod metal detection studies were done with 28 different ions in a 96-well fluorescent plate reader. Results show that highest sensitivity to 8 ions including the toxic ions of chromate and mercury allowing us to create a sensor to detect these items.

Semiconductor nanocrystals, also referred to as quantum dots (QDs), have been the focus of great scientific and technological efforts in solar cells, as a result of their advantages of low-cost, photostability, high molar extinction coefficients and size-dependent optical properties. Due to the multi-electron generation effect, the theoretically maximum efficiency of quantum dots-sensitized solar cells (QDSCs) is as high as 44%, which is much higher than that of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs). Thus QDSCs have a clear potential to overtake the efficiency of all other kinds of solar cells. In recent years, the efficiency of QDSCs has been improved very quickly to around 5%. It is however still much lower than that of DSCs. The low efficiency is mostly caused by the high electron loss between electrolyte and electrodes and the lack of an efficient electrolyte. In this thesis, we have been working to enhance the performance of QDSCs with II-VI group nanocrystals by increasing the electron injection efficiency from QDs to TiO2 and developing new redox couples in electrolyte. To increase the electron injection, firstly, colloidal ZnSe/CdS type-II QDs were synthesized and applied for QDSCs for the first time, whose photoelectron and photohole are located on CdS shell and ZnSe core, respectively. The spatial separation between photoelectron and photohole can effectively enhance the charge extraction efficiency, facilitating electron injection, and also effectively expand the absorption spectrum. All these characteristics contribute to the high photon to current conversion efficiency. Furthermore, a comparison between the performances of ZnSe/CdS and CdS/ZnSe QDs shows that the electron distribution is important for the electron injection of the QDs in QDSCs. Secondly, colloidal CdS/CdSe quantum rods (QRs) were applied to a quantum rod-sensitized solar cell (QRSCs) that showed a higher electron injection efficiency than analogous QDSCs. It is concluded that reducing the carrier confinement dimensions of nanocrystals can improve electron injection efficiency of nanocrystal sensitized solar cells. In this thesis, two types of organic electrolytes based McMT-/BMT and TMTU/TMTU-TFO were used for QDSCs. By reducing the charge recombination between the electrolyte and counter electrode, fill factor (FF) of these QDSCs was significantly improved. At the same time, the photovoltages of the QDSCs were remarkably increased. As a result, the overall conversion efficiency of QDSCs based on the new electrolytes was much higher than that with a commonly used inorganic electrolyte. In addition, CdS QDSCs on NiO photoelectrode were studied which shows a n-type photovoltaic performance. This performance is attributed to the formation of a thin Cd metal film before CdS QDs formation on NiO. Since the CB edge of CdS sits between the Fermi level and the CB edge of Cd metal, a much strong electron transfer between Cd and CdS QD is obtained, resulting in the observed n-type photovoltaic performance of these CdS/NiO QDSCs. / QC 20120425

Saviformuojantys puslaidininkiniai kvantiniai taškai (quantum dots, QDs), kurių charakteringos elektronų subjuostinių (intraband) šuolių energijos yra infraraudonajame spektriniame ruože (3–25 μm), sudaro daugelio fotojutiklių aktyviąją terpę ir yra aktualūs taikymams šiuolaikinėje optoelektronikoje. Disertacijoje nagrinėjami molekulinio pluoštelio epitaksijos būdu užauginti: -- InAs kvantiniai taškai, įterpti į GaAs matricą ir GaAs/AlAs supergardelę; -- InAs kvantiniai taškai be ir su įtempimus sumažinančiuoju InGaAs sluoksniu, įterpti į kompozitinę GaAs/AlAs kvantinę duobę; -- skirtingo aukščio koloniniai InGaAs kvantiniai taškai arba kvantiniai strypeliai (quantum rods, QRs), apsupti dvimačiu InGaAs sluoksniu, ir užauginti naudojant arba As2, arba As4 šaltinį. Taikant moduliacinę atspindžio spektroskopiją ir fotoliuminescenciją, buvo ištirtos šių darinių optinės savybės bei jų elektroninė sandara, o taip pat atskleista auginimo sąlygų įtaka darinių struktūrai. Eksperimentiniai tyrimai buvo interpretuojami atliekant teorinį modeliavimą skaitmeniniu (nextnano3 programa) bei analitiniu (sukurtas algoritmas) metodais. / Self-assembled InAs quantum dots (QDs), whose intersublevel transition energies lie in the mid- and far-infrared spectral range (3–25μm), have attracted particular interest as active elements of infrared photodetectors. This interest is mainly due to intriguing atomic-like quantum confinement and unique optical and electronic properties of QDs. Moreover, QD electronic structure can be adjusted by varying the dots size and shape or their environment. These features make QDs to be of importance in creation of photoelectronic devices with a desired spectral range. The dissertation is concerned specifically with molecular beam epitaxy grown InGaAs QD structures with: -- InAs QD stacks embedded in GaAs matrix and GaAs/AlAs superlattice (SL), or alternatively InAs/GaAs QD-SL structures with and without AlAs barriers between the dot layers; -- InAs QDs with and without InGaAs strain-reducing layers, embedded within GaAs/AlAs quantum wells; -- columnar InGaAs QDs, also referred to as quantum rods (QRs) or quantum posts, of different morphology. (The quantum confined structure consists of vertically oriented InGaAs QRs immersed in a two-dimensional InGaAs layer). These QD structures were studied by modulated reflectance and photo- luminescence spectroscopies to reveal their optical properties and the full- extent of electronic structure. Experimental data were interpreted by numerical (nextnano3 software) and analytical (algorithm developed) modelling.