Credit: Image courtesy of Peter Allen and Giulia Galli, University of Chicago
Nanoparticles are promising quantum materials for use in solar cells and in bright, efficient, light-emitting diodes (LEDs). However, they may flash (or blink), a process that limits their efficiency (see ball-and-stick representation of blinking silicon nanoparticles in figure—white light when emitting and yellow when dark due to trapped electrons). Blinking occurs when some nanoparticles do not emit any light (remain dark) after excitation. Now scientists can explain how to eliminate blinking in oxidized silicon nanoparticles. They predict that defects at the interface of the silicon core and the oxidized surface cause the blinking.