Synthetic Control of Intrinsic Defect Formation in Metal Oxide Nanocrystals Using Dissociated Spectator Metal Salts

Autor: Kihoon Kim, Jiwon Yu, Jungchul Noh, Lauren C. Reimnitz, Matthew Chang, Daniel R. Gamelin, Brian A. Korgel, Gyeong S. Hwang, Delia J. Milliron
Rok vydání: 2022
Předmět:
Zdroj: Journal of the American Chemical Society. 144:22941-22949
ISSN: 1520-5126
0002-7863
Popis: Crystallographic defects are essential to the functional properties of semiconductors, controlling everything from conductivity to optical properties and catalytic activity. In nanocrystals, too, defect engineering with extrinsic dopants has been fruitful. Although intrinsic defects like vacancies can be equally useful, synthetic strategies for controlling their generation are comparatively underdeveloped. Here, we show that intrinsic defect concentration can be tuned during the synthesis of colloidal metal oxide nanocrystals by the addition of metal salts. Although not incorporated in the nanocrystals, the metal salts dissociate at high temperatures, promoting the dissociation of carboxylate ligands from metal precursors, leading to the introduction of oxygen vacancies. For example, the concentration of oxygen vacancies can be controlled up to 9% in indium oxide nanocrystals. This method is broadly applicable as we demonstrate by generating intrinsic defects in metal oxide nanocrystals of various morphologies and compositions.
Databáze: OpenAIRE