In this work, we present the temperature-dependence and time-resolved photoluminescence (PL) of CdS nanoparticles capped independently with three different ligands thiophenol, thioglycerol, and l-cysteine over a broad temperature range from 10 to 300 K. The respective nanoparticles sizes in the three systems studied in this work are 1.5, 4, and 2 nm as determined from X-ray diffraction (XRD). From the analysis of AFM images, it was found that the lateral particle sizes of capped CdS nanoparticles are greater than those deduced from XRD or optical absorption measurements. The aim of this study is the investigation of the impact of the organic ligands on the radiative recombination dynamics in organically capped CdS nanoparticles. From the PL study and based on the temperature-dependence and time-resolved emission spectroscopy, we conclude that the emission of CdS QDs film originates from recombination of the delocalized carriers in the internal core states with a small contribution of the localized carriers at the interface. The PL decay reveals a biexponential behavior for the entire three samples at all temperatures. One of the two exponential components decays rapidly with a time τ ₁ in the range 0.5–0.8 ns, whereas the other decays much more slowly, with a time τ ₂ in the range 1–3 ns. The weak activation energy (32–37 meV) deduced from the temperature dependence of the PL intensity suggests the involvement of shallow traps. The analysis of the experimental results reveals a relatively narrow size distribution, an efficient surface passivation, and a satisfactory thermal stability of CdS nanocrystals.

We have investigated the effect of misorientated InP(001) substrates on the optical properties of InAs quantum islands (QIs) grown by molecular-beam epitaxy in the Stranski–Krastanow regime. Detailed temperature-dependent photoluminescence(PL), excitation density PL, and polarization of photoluminescence (PPL) are studied. PPL shows a high degree of linear polarization (near 40%) for the nominally oriented substrate n and for the substrate with 2° off miscut angle toward the [110] direction (2° F), while it is near 15% for the substrate with 2° off miscut angle towards [010] direction (2° B), indicating the growth of InAs quantum wires on nominal and 2° F substrates and of InAs quantum dots on 2° B substrate. These island shapes are confirmed by morphological investigations performed by atomic force microscopy. The integrated PL intensity remains very strong at room temperature, as much as 36% of that at 8 K, indicating a strong spatial localization of the carriers in the InAs QIs grown on InP(001).