Solid-State Route for the Synthesis of Scalable, Luminescent Silicon and Germanium Nanocrystals

Maxine J. Kirshenbaum, Matthew G. Boebinger, Michael J. Katz, Matthew T. McDowell, Mita Dasog

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

6 Scopus citations

Abstract

Group 14 nanocrystals (NCs) have gained significant attention in the last decade largely owing to their unique and tunable optoelectronic properties, allowing for diverse applications across a range of fields. Herein we report a gram-scale method to prepare Si and Ge NCs from mesoporous metal oxides using a solid-state metallothermic reduction method. Mesoporous SiO2 and GeO2 were prepared using a templated sol-gel method. The influence of pore size of the metal oxide precursor and the nature of reducing metal on the formation of Si and Ge was investigated. The NCs were functionalized with dodecyl groups via microwave-assisted hydrosilylation and hydrogermylation reactions, respectively. Si and Ge NCs were found to have tunable visible or near-IR luminescence with high emission quantum yields.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)423-429
Number of pages7
JournalChemNanoMat
Volume4
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - Apr 2018
Externally publishedYes

Funding

M. D. And M. K. J. acknowledges funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) and Dalhousie University. M.G.B and M.T.M. acknowledge support from the Georgia Institute of Technology and Georgia Tech Institute for Electronics and Nanotechnology, a member of the National Nanotechnology Coordinated Infrastructure supported by the National Science Foundation (Grant ECCS-1542174). M. J. K acknowledges the support from the Research and Development Corporation of Newfoundland and Labrador. Thanks to Judith O’Donnell and Anton-Paar for the assistance with the microwave reactions and Drs. A. Meldrum and P. Zhang for the assistance with the optical studies.

Keywords

  • germanium
  • nanocrystals
  • photoluminescence
  • quantum dots
  • silicon
  • solid-state structures

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