Issue 9, 2020

Ligands as a universal molecular toolkit in synthesis and assembly of semiconductor nanocrystals

Abstract

Successful exploitation of semiconductor nanocrystals (NCs) in commercial products is due to the remarkable progress in the wet-chemical synthesis and controlled assembly of NCs. Central to the cadence of this progress is the ability to understand how NC growth and assembly can be controlled kinetically and thermodynamically. The arrested precipitation strategy offers a wide opportunity for materials selection, size uniformity, and morphology control. In this colloidal approach, capping ligands play an instrumental role in determining growth parameters and inter-NC interactions. The impetus for exquisite control over the size and shape of NCs and orientation of NCs in an ensemble has called for the use of two or more types of ligands in the system. In multiple ligand approaches, ligands with different functionalities confer extended tunability, hinting at the possibility of atomic-precision growth and long-range ordering of desired superlattices. Here, we highlight the progress in understanding the roles of ligands in size and shape control and assembly of NCs. We discuss the implication of the advances in the context of optoelectronic applications.

Graphical abstract: Ligands as a universal molecular toolkit in synthesis and assembly of semiconductor nanocrystals

Article information

Article type
Minireview
Submitted
15 Oct 2019
Accepted
10 Feb 2020
First published
10 Feb 2020
This article is Open Access

All publication charges for this article have been paid for by the Royal Society of Chemistry
Creative Commons BY license

Chem. Sci., 2020,11, 2318-2329

Ligands as a universal molecular toolkit in synthesis and assembly of semiconductor nanocrystals

H. Lee, D. Yoon, S. Koh, M. S. Kang, J. Lim and D. C. Lee, Chem. Sci., 2020, 11, 2318 DOI: 10.1039/C9SC05200C

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications without requesting further permissions from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements