Fluorescence resonance energy transfer in a non-conjugated system of CdSe quantum dots/zinc-phthalocyanine

Energy transfer between CdSe quantum dots (QDs) as donors and Zn phthalocyanine (Zn-Pc) molecules as acceptors was studied using steady-state photoluminescence and time-correlated single photon counting techniques. With the latter technique it is evaluated that the lifetime of Zn-Pc emission increases from 4 ns to ca. 30 ns on 460 nm excitation in the presence of the QDs. The concomitant decrease in the lifetime of the QDs emission (from 23.5 to 18.4 ns) indicates that the excitation of Zn-Pc occurs not only through reabsorption but also through fluorescence resonance energy transfer.