Review Article

Active photonic devices based on colloidal semiconductor nanocrystals and organometallic halide perovskites

UMDO (Unidad Asociada al CSIC-IMM), Instituto de Ciencia de Materiales, Universidad de Valencia, P.O. Box 22085, 46007 Valencia, España

^a e-mail: isaac.suarez@uv.es

Received: 21 April 2016
Revised: 21 June 2016
Accepted: 5 September 2016
Published online: 3 October 2016

Abstract

Semiconductor nanocrystals have arisen as outstanding materials to develop a new generation of optoelectronic devices. Their fabrication under simple and low cost colloidal chemistry methods results in cheap nanostructures able to provide a wide range of optical functionalities. Their attractive optical properties include a high absorption cross section below the band gap, a high quantum yield emission at room temperature, or the capability of tuning the band-gap with the size or the base material. In addition, their solution process nature enables an easy integration on several substrates and photonic structures. As a consequence, these nanoparticles have been extensively proposed to develop several photonic applications, such as detection of light, optical gain, generation of light or sensing. This manuscript reviews the great effort undertaken by the scientific community to construct active photonic devices based on these nanoparticles. The conditions to demonstrate stimulated emission are carefully studied by comparing the dependence of the optical properties of the nanocrystals with their size, shape and composition. In addition, this paper describes the design of different photonic architectures (waveguides and cavities) to enhance the generation of photoluminescence, and hence to reduce the threshold of optical gain. Finally, semiconductor nanocrystals are compared to organometallic halide perovskites, as this novel material has emerged as an alternative to colloidal nanoparticles.