Supporting Data for Spectral Engineering with Quantum Dot Films for Enhanced Lettuce Growth

Abstract

To improve crop yields without the added cost of supplementary lighting, passive spectral manipulation shifts sunlight into critical wavebands for plant growth. Quantum dot (QD) films shift higher energy photons to lower energies, serving as tunable sunlight filters, but are understudied in this application space. Herein, we identify QD film properties to pro-mote lettuce growth. By simulating films with nine different nontoxic QDs, we calculate a concentration-dependent lettuce yield improvement of up to 45%. QDs that strongly absorb blue/green light and downshift this light to red/far-red wavebands result in the highest lettuce yield enhancements. Despite this strong absorption, we find that QD films can be utilized broadly in the United States. Contrary to common intuition, increasing the photoluminescence quantum yield or film outcoupling efficiency does not further increase lettuce yield, indicating that filtered absorption is the most important factor in design. This study points to the need for more directed investigation into QD films for increasing plant growth.