Tuning the band gap of PbSe quantum dots in glasses by TiO doping

Titanium monoxide (TiO) was added to host glass, which was heat-treated at 520 °C for 10 h to incorporate Ti²⁺ into PbSe quantum dots (QDs) to control their band gaps. Incorporation of Ti²⁺ ions into PbSe QDs was confirmed using electron energy loss spectroscopy analysis. Addition of TiO caused blue-shift of the absorption and photoluminescence (PL) bands of the QDs. Absorption bands moved from 1621 nm at TiO concentration [TiO] = 0.0% to 1418 nm at [TiO] = 0.4 mol%. Average diameters of QDs remained mostly unaffected (i.e., 6.25 ± 0.14 nm at [TiO] = 0.0% to 6.03 ± 0.1 nm at [TiO] = 0.4 mol%). The changes in absorption and PL bands originated from the incorporation of Ti²⁺ ions into PbSe QDs. Band gaps of PbSe QDs increased from 0.76 eV at [TiO] = 0% to 0.88 eV at [TiO] = 0.4 mol%. This simple method to tune the band gap of PbSe QDs has possible applications in optical communication fiber amplifiers, infrared laser sources and saturable absorbers.