Polymer nanoreactor mediated controllable synthesis of flexible semiconductor quantum dot nanofiber films

Semiconductor quantum dots (SQDs) find widespread applications, but manufacturing highly dispersed SQDs in films is a challenge. Herein, we report a polymer nanoreactor-mediated confinement strategy for the controllable synthesis of high-density and monodisperse ZrO2 SQDs nanofiber films. In detail, polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) is applied to confine zirconium acetate colloids through molecule steric hindrance effect in a water-based sol, which is then assembled into nanofibers by electrospinning. Afterwards, the PVP provides a fencelike spatial confinement in the nanofiber during calcining. With this dual domain confinement, high-loading (84.5 wt%) and monodisperse ZrO2 SQDs (∼4.47 nm) nanofiber film is prepared. The film exhibits superior flexibility and a high surface area of 1245 m2•g−1, as well as tunable light absorption from ultraviolet to visible-light, which breaks through the bottleneck of wide bandgap ZrO2 that can only be excited for photocatalysis under ultraviolet irradiation. This strategy opens new possibilities in large-scale manufacturing of high-quality SQD films for a series of potential applications.