Temperature dependent photoluminescence from lead sulfide nanosheets and nanocubes

Abstract

We studied temperature dependent photoluminescence (PL) spectra in the mid-infrared range from lead sulfide (PbS) nanosheets with an average thickness of 25 nm and nanocubes grown by solvothermal and hydrothermal methods. Distinct bandedge PL emission was observed in the whole temperature range between 10 and 300 K, indicating the high optical quality of these nanostructures. The PL peak of the nanosheets was found at 0.326 eV at 10 K, about 40 meV higher than that of bulk PbS due to the quantum confinement effect, whereas no confinement effect was observed for the nanocubes. We also demonstrate that the absorption edges of the nanocubes and nanosheets in the transmission spectra agree very well with their fundamental bandgap.