Talk:Quantum yield

Photochemistry and equations

Someone really needs to add more related photochemistry and equations to this; I'd do it right now but I have an exam in 3 hours 20 :) Nessa Carson (talk) 10:09, 1 June 2012 (UTC)

I was thinking something similar. We need a more concrete (sourced) definition, and probably some more under the "applications" section. It's just kinda all over the place right now. I support your endeavor completely!

Rob Hurt (talk) 22:02, 1 June 2012 (UTC)

Source does not verify crucial claim

The introduction to this article claims

• In photosensitive device engineering, the events of interest are charge carriers collected at either terminal. In that context, the same concept is called quantum efficiency (QE).

citing

• Shaheen, Sean (2001). "2.5% efficient organic plastic solar cells". Applied Physics Letters. 78 (6): 841. Bibcode:2001ApPhL..78..841S. doi:10.1063/1.1345834. hdl:11370/108e619e-c6c2-4cf9-859e-6f937ac027f2. Retrieved 20 May 2012.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)

However that source never mentions "quantum yield". Johnjbarton (talk) 01:54, 20 December 2025 (UTC)

@Bernanke's Crossbow I think the merge of quantum efficiency into this article is not correct.

Here is a source that uses both concepts:

• Zhao, S. C., & Chen, J. Y. (2019). Enhanced quantum yields and efficiency in a quantum dot photocell modeled by a multi-level system. New Journal of Physics, 21(10), 103015.

Johnjbarton (talk) 02:10, 20 December 2025 (UTC)

Here is a highly cited source that discusses both:

• Serpone, N. (1997). Relative photonic efficiencies and quantum yields in heterogeneous photocatalysis. Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology A: Chemistry, 104(1-3), 1-12.
• Unfortunately, the heterogeneous photocatalysis literature also reports quantum yields and in other cases quantum efficiencies. Not only do these two terms have distinct meaning [ 16] as noted above, but the terms are used synonymously and have come to refer, incorrectly, to the number of molecules undergoing an event referenced to the total number of photons incident on the reactor walls, for some ill-defined reactor geometry and for a large spectral (non-monochromatic) irradiation window. It cannot be emphasized sufficiently in this context that it is the photons actually absorbed that induce the photocatalytic process.

Unfortunately this source is more adamant about what is wrong than it clear about what is right. Also, the fact the article discusses both as having problems does suggest some overlap. Johnjbarton (talk) 02:22, 20 December 2025 (UTC)

@Johnjbarton: Huh, thanks for checking this. TBH I merged them based on the WP text; I didn't go back to the sources to verify that the WP text was correctly summarizing the concept. I haven't had much time to do intensive WP research the past few days, but I'll try to investigate some in the forthcoming week. Bernanke's Crossbow (talk) 02:22, 22 December 2025 (UTC)

@Natg 19 I think you should hold off on changing links to "quantum yield". Johnjbarton (talk) 03:06, 20 December 2025 (UTC)

QE of solar cells?

Does this section really need to be in this article? It's already in the Quantum efficiency one. Wormsward (talk) 18:38, 17 January 2026 (UTC)

I agree and deleted the unsourced section. Johnjbarton (talk) 18:58, 17 January 2026 (UTC)

Sources

• Rubin, M. B., & Braslavsky, S. E. (2010). Quantum yield: the term and the symbol. A historical search. Photochemical & Photobiological Sciences, 9(5), 670-674. In addition to history, they say Note: For a primary photochemical process, quantum efficiency is identical to quantum yield. in the context which shows that otherwise these are not equivalent.
• Crosby, G. A., & Demas, J. N. (1971). Measurement of photoluminescence quantum yields. Review. The Journal of Physical Chemistry, 75(8), 991-1024. The luminescence quantum yield of a compound is defined as the fraction of molecules that emit a photon after direct excitation by the source. This quantity is not the same as the total number of emitted photons which escape a bulk sample divided by the total number of absorbed photons, although in many instances the two quantities are nearly equal. The terms absolute yield, quantum yield, and yield are used interchange-ably throughout this review.
• Wong, K. L., Bünzli, J. C. G., & Tanner, P. A. (2020). Quantum yield and brightness. Journal of Luminescence, 224, 117256. Defines both quantum yield and quantum efficiency.

Johnjbarton (talk) 19:11, 17 January 2026 (UTC)