739 publications from this institution
Semiconductor nanocrystal solids are attractive materials for active layers in next-generation optoelectronic devices; however, their efficient implementation has been impeded by the lack of precise control over dopant concentrations. Herein we demonstrate a chemical strategy for the controlled doping of nanocrystal solids under equilibrium conditions. Exposing lead selenide nanocrystal thin films to solutions containing varying proportions of decamethylferrocene and decamethylferrocenium incrementally and reversibly increased the carrier concentration in the solid by 2 orders of magnitude from their native values. This application of redox buffers for controlled doping provides a new method for the precise control of the majority carrier concentration in porous semiconductor thin films.
The development of nanomaterials for next generation photonic, optoelectronic, and catalytic applications requires a robust synthetic toolkit for systematically tuning composition, phase, and morphology at nanometer length scales. While de novo synthetic methods for preparing nanomaterials from molecular precursors have advanced considerably in recent years, postsynthetic modifications of these preformed nanostructures have enabled the stepwise construction of complex nanomaterials. Among these postsynthetic transformations, cation exchange reactions, in which the cations ligated within a nanocrystal host lattice are substituted with those in solution, have emerged as particularly powerful tools for fine-grained control over nanocrystal composition and phase. In this feature article, we review the fundamental thermodynamic and kinetic basis for cation exchange reactions in colloidal semiconductor nanocrystals and highlight its synthetic versatility for accessing nanomaterials intractable by direct synthetic methods from molecular precursors. Unlike analogous ion substitution reactions in extended solids, cation exchange reactions at the nanoscale benefit from rapid reaction rates and facile modulation of reaction thermodynamics via selective ion coordination in solution. The preservation of the morphology of the initial nanocrystal template upon exchange, coupled with stoichiometric control over the extent of reaction, enables the formation of nanocrystals with compositions, morphologies, and crystal phases that are not readily accessible by conventional synthetic methods.
Nanocrystals of semiconductor compounds are produced. When they are applied as a contiguous layer onto a substrate and heated they fuse into a continuous layer at temperatures as much as 250, 500, 750 or even 1000.degree. K below their bulk melting point. This allows continuous semiconductor films in the 0.25 to 25 nm thickness range to be formed with minimal thermal exposure.
Photovoltaic devices remain an important aim for thin films of conjugated polymers. Here is reported the construction of devices with improved photovoltaic performance, which is achieved by blending elongated CdSe nanocrystals (see Figure) with regioregular poly(3-hexylthiophene). Improved transport arising from denser aggregation between the elongated particles is a probable source of the enhanced energy conversion.
Nanocrystal surfaces play a critical role in dictating their physical and chemical properties. Colloidal semiconductor nanocrystals, or quantum dots, are generally synthesized with insulating aliphatic ligands, but these ligands can be post-synthetically exchanged with other molecular species for a variety of applications. While previous work has investigated the thermodynamics of ligand exchanges on quasi-spherical quantum dots through sensitive isothermal titration calorimetry and 1H NMR measurements, the influence of well-defined crystal facets on the propensity of these ligand exchanges is yet to be explored using these techniques. We studied the exchange of native cadmium carboxylate ligands for zinc chloride ligands on (111) faceted cadmium selenide tetrahedrons and (100) faceted cadmium selenide cubes. From these measurements, we find the unexpected result that the thermodynamics of this ligand exchange between these facets is nearly identical. Further, a modified Ising model was used to fit both the calorimetric and 1H NMR data to extract thermodynamic parameters for the exchange. These simulations suggest that the observed enthalpic differences can be mostly attributed to varying inter-ligand interactions on the (111) and (100) facets.
Transition-metal oxide nanocrystals are interesting candidates for localized surface plasmon resonance hosts because they exhibit fascinating properties arising from the unique character of their outer-d valence electrons. WO(3-δ) nanoparticles are known to have intense visible and near-IR absorption, but the origin of the optical absorption has remained unclear. Here we demonstrate that metallic phases of WO(3-δ) nanoparticles exhibit a strong and tunable localized surface plasmon resonance, which opens up the possibility of rationally designing plasmonic tungsten oxide nanoparticles for light harvesting, bioimaging, and sensing.
Transient electric birefringence measurements were performed on dilute solutions of CdSe nanorods. The results confirm the existence of a permanent dipole along the c-crystallographic axis. Measurements on nanorods with different widths and lengths show that the longitudinal permanent dipole moment scales linearly with volume, suggesting it arise from the noncentrosymmetric crystallographic lattice.
We have used synchrotron radiation photoemission to probe the valence and core level electronic structure of compound-semiconductor monodisperse clusters (nanocrystals). These clusters exhibited a 10% or less variation relative to the mean diameter and were attached to the metal substrates via alkane chains. Direct evidence of gap broadening due to size variation in CdS clusters was observed. The novel utilization of alkane chain attachment is the key to eliminating the otherwise debilitating problem of sample charging, as occurs with powders. The quality of sample preparation was confirmed by other methods such as transmission electron microscopy, Raman scattering, and x-ray diffraction. This work provides a direct link between photoemission studies of expitaxial ultrathin films of compound semiconductors, the photon-spectroscopy measurements of cluster powders and the existing theories of quantum confinement in reduced dimensionality structures.
