Fluorescent emitters like ions, dye molecules, or semiconductor nanoparticles are widely used in optoelectronic devices, usually within densely packed layers. Their luminescence properties can then be very different from when they are isolated, because of short-range interparticle interactions such as Förster resonant energy transfer (FRET). Understanding these interactions is crucial to mitigate FRET-related losses and could also lead to new energy transfer strategies. Exciton migration by FRET hopping between consecutive neighbor fluorophores has been evidenced in various systems but was generally limited to distances of tens of nanometers and involved only a few emitters. Here, we image self-assembled linear chains of CdSe nanoplatelets (colloidal quantum wells) and demonstrate exciton migration over 500 nm distances, corresponding to FRET hopping over 90 platelets. By comparing a diffusion-equation model to our experimental data, we measure a (1.5 ps)-1 FRET rate, much faster than all decay mechanisms, so that strong FRET-mediated collective photophysical effects can be expected.
Keywords: FRET; exciton transfer; fluorescence microscopy; nanoplatelets; self-assembly.