A convenient, aqueous-based synthesis of stable HgTe nanocrystals with widely size-tunable room temperature emission between wavelengths of 1.2 to 3.7 mum is demonstrated. By the choice of the thiols, applied as stabilizers, we optimized the growth dynamics, the luminescence quantum yields (up to 40%), and a ligand-exchange procedure, required to transfer the nanocrystals from water to nonpolar organic solvents. The latter is greatly improved and facilitated by the use of mercaptoethylamine as initial stabilizer. The possibility to tune the HgTe nanocrystal sizes from 3 to 12 nm and to control their surface functionalities (hydrophobic and hydrophilic) makes them very promising for the development of infrared optical devices, emitting in the wavelength region between the telecommunications and the molecular vibrations.

Exciton-exciton interaction in dot/rod CdSe/CdS nanocrystals has proved to be very sensitive to the shape of nanocrystals, due to the unique band alignment between CdSe and CdS. Repulsive exciton-exciton interaction is demonstrated, which makes CdSe/CdS dot/rods promising gain media for solution-processable lasers, with projected pump threshold densities below 1 kW cm(-2) for continuous wave lasing.

HgTe nanocrystals are demonstrated to increase the photon‐harvesting efficiency of hybrid solar cells over a broad spectral region between 350 and 1500 nm. Devices combining two solar cell concepts, a solid‐state nanocrystal‐sensitized solar cell and a nanocrystal/polymer‐blend solar cell, are described. These devices give incident photon to current efficiencies up to 10 % at around 550 nm monochromatic irradiation and short‐circuit current densities of 2 mA cm–2 under simulated AM1.5 (100 mW cm–2) illumination (AM: air mass).

Highly luminescent colloidally prepared HgTe nanocrystals (NCs) are used to fabricate microcavity light-emitting devices operating around 1.5μm. They consist of a Bragg interference mirror from standard optical materials deposited on glass substrates, an active layer embedding the nanocrystals, and a metallic top mirror. These devices give highly directional narrow single-mode emission with a beam divergence below 3° and a spectral width smaller by a factor of 8 than that of a NC reference sample. The emission wavelength can be tuned between 1.4 and 1.75μm by changing the cavity length and thus, the cavity finesse. The influence of the latter on output power and beam divergence is discussed. Furthermore, operation up to 75 °C is demonstrated without degradation of the NCs, which is promising for potential applications.

CdSe/ZnS core/shell nanocrystals (NCs) are integrated into para-sexiphenyl (p-6P) based hybrid light emitting diodes, to obtain green and red emission in addition to blue emission originated from p-6P. For the active region of the devices, ultrathin layers of p-6P and NCs are deposited by hot wall epitaxy and spin casting, respectively, resulting in current-voltage characteristics with small leakage currents and low onset voltages. The achieved electroluminescence exhibits narrow emission line widths and thus high color purity, as required for color display applications.