Photocurrent in a hybrid system of 1-thioglycerol and HgTe quantum dots

Photocurrent mechanism in a hybrid system of 1-thioglycerol and HgTe quantum dots(QDs) was studied for the first time in the intra-red (IR) range. 1-thioglycerol-capped HgTe QDs were prepared using colloidal method in aqueous solution; the synthesis and size of the HgTe QDs were examined by x-ray diffraction, Raman scattering, and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy. Absorption and photoluminescence spectra of the capped HgTe QDs revealed the strong excitonic peaks in the range from 900 to 1100nm, because of their widened band gap due to the shrinkage of their sizes to about 3 nm. The wavelength dependence of the photocurrent for the hybred system of the 1-thioglycerol and HgTe QDs was very close to that of the absorption spectrum, indicating that charge carriers photoexcited in the HgTe QDs give direct contribution to the photocurrent in the medium of 1-thioglycerol. In this hybrid system, the photo-excited electrons in the HgTe QDs are strongly confined, but the photo-excited holes act as free carriers. Hence, in the photocurrent mechanism of the this hybrid system, only holes among electron-hole pairs created by incident photons in the HgTe QDs are transferred to 1-thioglycerol surrounding HgTe QDs and contribute photocurrent flowing in the medium of 1-thioglycerol.