Nanocomposites of benzyl mercaptan (BM)-capped cadmium sulfide (CdS) quantum dots (QDs) have been prepared and investigated by using electric field modulation spectroscopy. Applied electric fields on absorption and photoluminescence (PL) spectra as well as PL decays of BM-capped CdS QDs embedded in a poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) film have revealed a field-induced alteration. Electro-photoluminescence (E-PL) exhibits field-induced quenching of photoluminescence in the presence of electric fields. The observed E-PL spectra and field-induced change in decay profile suggest that the PL intensity alternation originates from the electric field effect on emitting state population rather than PL quantum yield, probably as a result of the presence of field-assisted dissociation into hole and electron at the photoexcited state having a charge-separated character. Field-induced change in absorption spectra showed the spectral broadening caused by the stark shifts, indicating a large electric dipole moment in the exciton state. E-PL spectra also show that the emission state of BMcapped CdS QDs has a large charge transfer character. The field-assisted dissociation from the photoexcited state has been confirmed to depend on the excitation wavelength.

A method of microwave (MW) assisted synthesis was employed to prepare cadmium sulfide (CdS) quantum dots (QDs) in dimethylformamide in the presence of poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA). The MW irradiation was carried out for a fixed time of 20-30 s and the size of QDs varied from 2.9-5.5 nm. Before each irradiation the solution was cooled down to ambient temperature and the irradiation process was repeated six times. An increase in the intensity and red shift of the characteristic UV-vis absorption peak originating from CdS QDs were observed with repeated MW irradiation, suggesting that the amount of generated CdS QDs increased within the PMMA network and aggregated with repeated MW irradiation. MW irradiation could influence selectively the nucleation and growing rates of PMMA-CdS QDs systems. The broadness and large Stokes shift of the emission from Cd(2+)-rich PMMA-CdS QDs was due to the surface trap state photoluminescence. The recombination of shallow trapped electrons and shallow trapped holes has been considered as the primary source of the surface trap state photoluminescence in Cd(2+)-rich PMMA-CdS QDs. The photoluminescence lifetime was observed to be decreased sharply when the amount of QDs was less, showing the emission decay was dependent on the surface property of PMMA-CdS QDs. The origin of the longer lifetime was due to the involvement of surface trap states and dependent on the amount of CdS QDs present within PMMA and its environment. The effect of the concentration of Cd(2+), S(2-) and PMMA on the generation of CdS QDs within PMMA and the effect of repeated MW irradiation on the optical properties was studied and the results are discussed in this article.

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