Bright Colloidal PbS Nanoribbons

Colloidal lead sulfide (PbS) nanoribbons are synthesized using organometallic precursors with chloroalkane cosolvents. The few-atom-thick nanoribbons have a typical width 20 nm and a length more than 50 nm. Different from a nanosheet where the quantum confinement energy is mainly determined by the thickness, the narrow width of the nanoribbon has an additional contribution to the increase of energy gap. In contrast to nanosheets, the nanoribbons are much brighter. At room temperatures, well-passivated nanoribbons have achieved more than 30% photoluminescence quantum yield in the infrared spectrum, competing with the well-developed colloidal lead chalcogenide quantum dots of the similar energy gap.