Controlled synthesis of Eu2+ and Eu3+ doped ZnS quantum dots and their photovoltaic and magnetic properties

Eu-doped ZnS quantum dots (QDs) have been synthesized by wet-chemical method and found to form in zinc blende (cubic) structure. Both Eu2+ and Eu3+ doped ZnS can be controllably synthesized. The Eu2+ doped ZnS QDs show broad photoluminescence emission peak around 512 nm, which is from the Eu2+ intra-ion transition of 4f6d1 – 4f7, while the Eu3+ doped samples exhibit narrow emission lines characteristic of transitions between the 4f levels. The investigation of the magnetic properties shows that the Eu3+ doped samples exhibit signs of ferromagnetism, on the other hand, Eu2+ doped samples are paramagnetic of Curie-Weiss type. The incident photon to electron conversion efficiency is increased with the Eu doping, which suggests the QD solar cell efficiency can be enhanced by Eu doping due to widened absorption windows. This is an attractive approach to utilize benign and environmentally friendly wide band gap ZnS QDs in solar cell technology.