Synthesis of highly stable quantum-dot silicone nanocomposites via in situ zinc-terminated polysiloxane passivation

Quantum dot (QD) silicone nanocomposites are promising luminescent materials for developing high performance light-emitting diodes (LEDs). However, their practical application still faces a critical issue of strong fluorescence quenching in commercial silicone, which is normally induced by the agglomeration of QDs and the impurities such as a Pt-catalyst and oxygen in the silicone matrices. This article reports the development of zinc-terminated polydimethylsiloxane (Zn-PDMS) to passivate CdSe/CdS/ZnS QDs via an in situ approach. The Zn-PDMS passivation protects the QDs from reacting with impurities and provides the mono-dispersion of QDs in silicone resin, leading to over 80% quantum efficiency as well as effective anti-quenching properties for the QD-silicone nanocomposite under an ambient atmosphere. A high performance warm-white LED prototype with direct on-chip packaging using the as-prepared QDs is developed.